(English isn't my first language) So, this is a dream I had some months ago, and it's one of the longest that I can actually remember since I wrote it down as soon as I got up.
I was riding a bike, I was alone in a farm-like scenario, but the were no trees, no houses, nothing, only grass and a path that I was following. Suddently, another bike surpasses me, but it had no one on it, only what looked like a white dog on its basket (yk that baskets on the fron of the bike), and since I thought to be alone I screamed! After shouting I realize that it wasn't a dog, but a girl... A little girl covered in white furrwith some brown stains and, long white hair and red eyes. She was like an half human half-mouse (on of those mice used for experiments). Obviously she gets scared to, and "rides" off, another bike follows her, this time someone is actually riding it and he's a boy, an half mouse-half human boy, this time completely white, with no stains. He wasn't scared, he looked at me like he was saying "She's just like this, excuse her" and chased her sister (I felt like they were brothers). I'm gonna cut off some things since it's already pretty long as it is.
I eventually managed to reach them, I started to apologise, I felt really bad for her. But then... A look of terror in her eyes, she began to cry and shake, her brother was trying to calm her down. I thought it was my bad, but the... Someone taps my shoulder, I turn and I see a two trolls (it's the only name I have for them), they looked like hillbillies (can I say it or it's like a bad word? In case a apologies), rotten teeth, their eyes buried under their greenish skin. A male and a female, the male was holding a shovel and a black bad, and it loked like there was a body insiede. The man asks where he could "leave the trash" while mimic the gesture of digging with a shovel. I started to panic, I felt like I had to save those mouse-kids, but I was scared that those trolls might kill me... I felt like those children were theirs, and we're obviously being a used by them. I told them that I didn't know where they could "leave the trash", I vaguely remember that I was speaking with a strange voice, trying to be funny and not get killed.
The man then nods, and they walk away with the two children. I still remember the cores of the girl, it hunted me when I woke up, I could still ear the cries for help when I was writing down the dream i must had.
So yea, then I woke up. I talked about it with some friends and they told me that it gave them the creeps, so here I am after some months here.
If you have some explanations I'd be happy to read about it.

My (F29) 2 friends (both F30) from university have created a group chat and are urging me to go to Japan with them, since tickets are cheap right now. I told them that I will be going twice this year already, so I will have to pass on going with them and they can just go together.
I don’t want to go with them at all, because I went with them to a different prefecture in Japan 6 years ago and we had so many differences. They are always looking for the cheapest things and places regardless of where it is and what it is. I also had to plan everything and make the itinerary and buy tickets for everything. I was also the designated train expert. I’m okay with staying in cheap hotels as long as it’s in a good location and the bathroom is clean. I’m also okay with taking trains and walking instead of taking taxis, since the price difference is insane and I love walking anyways. What I’m not okay with is eating at 7/11s, family marts, or random restaurants that have 1 star reviews but are cheap. I know I sound crazy, but I love food. I love to eat. I especially love to eat when I’m on vacation. I’m not rich by any means, but I would rather save up and eat whatever I want and go to whatever attraction I want on vacation rather than go there and just stare at food and places I cannot afford. Eating while on vacation is one of the best experiences. Especially in Japan!
When I went with them 6 years ago, I wanted to try this yakiniku restaurant, but they did not, since they found it to be expensive. It was about 30USD per person. I acquiesced since they both didn’t want to eat there. They chose this random restaurant with a more affordable menu. The food was about 10USD per dish. I just ate ice cream, because the food did not look appetizing at all and even they were having a hard time finishing it. The bill came and we were all shocked. There was a random door charge that was about $10 each person. I was pissed. They wanted to complain to the waitress, but how in the world were we going to complain when it was probably normal in that area. I just stayed quiet the rest of the night and told myself to just let it go. The next day came and we were in line at this famous tonkatsu restaurant. It was about $20 per meal and when we sat down they only ordered one croquette ($5) per person because they didn’t have want to order a $20 meal. The croquette wasn’t even that big so they were still hungry. My meal was a set and was refillable, so they just ate my rice and soup. It was honestly really embarrassing, because the waitress was staring at us and I just wanted to melt. I’m not dragging them to $100 per meal restaurants here. I completely understand that people have different budgets for different things, but I feel like this is too extreme. We also went to a theme park and instead of riding different rides, they got tired after 3, and wanted to just sit down the rest of the day. I had to go around by myself, because they were too tired.
We meet about once a year, because our schedules are too different. Even when we meet I cannot help but think we are just growing apart. We have so many different views on things. We recently went out to dinner and we were just having a good time when one of them mentioned a very delicate topic about another young woman. This woman had an intimate video of her released when she was a minor and they were making fun of her. I saw red. I didn’t shout at them or anything, but I reprimanded them for being vile and I told them if they were going to continue with this conversation, I was leaving. They always stick up for each other, so it always feels like I’m in the wrong, but this time I didn’t back down. They told me I was ruining the dinner, so I said it wouldn’t be ruined in the first place if they just acted like well raised adults. We all went home soon after that.
They’ve been acting like nothing happened and have been messaging me and still asking me to go to dinners with them, but I just don’t want to anymore. I can’t help feeling sad, because we’ve been friends for over a decade. They’re going to ask me to go with them again somewhere sometime in the future, and I don’t know how to tell them I don’t want to go with them without hurting their feelings. I’m not even sure if I still want to be friends. I know we’re all old enough to talk about this maturely, but these two are not very mature. When I mentioned that I was already going this year, they both said that it’s because I didn’t want to see them and I was choosing my other friends over them. I don’t know how to handle these two, because all my other friends act their age. My 14 year old sister is easier to reason with. What do I do?
Edit: paragraphs

My (F29) 2 friends (both F30) from university have created a group chat and are urging me to go to Japan with them, since tickets are cheap right now. I told them that I will be going twice this year already, so I will have to pass on going with them and they can just go together. I don’t want to go with them at all, because I went with them to a different prefecture in Japan 6 years ago and we had so many differences. They are always looking for the cheapest things and places regardless of where it is and what it is. I also had to plan everything and make the itinerary and buy tickets for everything. I was also the designated train expert. I’m okay with staying in cheap hotels as long as it’s in a good location and the bathroom is clean. I’m also okay with taking trains and walking instead of taking taxis, since the price difference is insane and I love walking anyways. What I’m not okay with is eating at 7/11s, family marts, or random restaurants that have 1 star reviews but are cheap. I know I sound crazy, but I love food. I love to eat. I especially love to eat when I’m on vacation. I’m not rich by any means, but I would rather save up and eat whatever I want and go to whatever attraction I want on vacation rather than go there and just stare at food and places I cannot afford. Eating while on vacation is one of the best experiences. Especially in Japan! When I went with them 6 years ago, I wanted to try this yakiniku restaurant, but they did not, since they found it to be expensive. It was about 30USD per person. I acquiesced since they both didn’t want to eat there. They chose this random restaurant with a more affordable menu. The food was about 10USD per dish. I just ate ice cream, because the food did not look appetizing at all and even they were having a hard time finishing it. The bill came and we were all shocked. There was a random door charge that was about $10 each person. I was pissed. They wanted to complain to the waitress, but how in the world were we going to complain when it was probably normal in that area. I just stayed quiet the rest of the night and told myself to just let it go. The next day came and we were in line at this famous tonkatsu restaurant. It was about $20 per meal and when we sat down they only ordered one croquette ($5) per person because they didn’t have want to order a $20 meal. The croquette wasn’t even that big so they were still hungry. My meal was a set and was refillable, so they just ate my rice and soup. It was honestly really embarrassing, because the waitress was staring at us and I just wanted to melt. I’m not dragging them to $100 per meal restaurants here. I completely understand that people have different budgets for different things, but I feel like this is too extreme. We also went to a theme park and instead of riding different rides, they got tired after 3, and wanted to just sit down the rest of the day. I had to go around by myself, because they were too tired. We meet about once a year, because our schedules are too different. Even when we meet I cannot help but think we are just growing apart. We have so many different views on things. We recently went out to dinner and we were just having a good time when one of them mentioned a very delicate topic about another young woman. This woman had an intimate video of her released when she was a minor and they were making fun of her. I saw red. I didn’t shout at them or anything, but I reprimanded them for being vile and I told them if they were going to continue with this conversation, I was leaving. They always stick up for each other, so it always feels like I’m in the wrong, but this time I didn’t back down. They told me I was ruining the dinner, so I said it wouldn’t be ruined in the first place if they just acted like well raised adults. We all went home soon after that. They’ve been acting like nothing happened and have been messaging me and still asking me to go to dinners with them, but I just don’t want to anymore. I can’t help feeling sad, because we’ve been friends for over a decade. They’re going to ask me to go with them again somewhere sometime in the future, and I don’t know how to tell them I don’t want to go with them without hurting their feelings. I’m not even sure if I still want to be friends. I know we’re all old enough to talk about this maturely, but these two are not very mature. When I mentioned that I was already going this year, they both said that it’s because I didn’t want to see them and I was choosing my other friends over them. I don’t know how to handle these two, because all my other friends act their age. My 14 year old sister is easier to reason with. What do I do?

I plan to elucidate a lot of material in this group, because a lot of the attacks revolve around the character of "pedophile" Mohammad, but few are aware of the historicity of the rest of the characters in the fantasy cult of Islam.
Aisha is one such character. In my day to day life as a pretentious Shia Muslim, I curse this nonexistent character all day long. (The Shia version of Islam, in contrast to the Sunni version, reveres different characters from Islamic history, and hates a certain set of them), but in my Ex-Muslim mind, when I'm alone, I know that just as is the case with Mohammad himself, Aisha did not ever actually exist either. As I've continued to say, a lot of the fairytales of Islam are amalgamations from various different sources that existed before, during, and after the creation of Islam concocted into a cult of religion.
Noteworthy hatred that Shias have for this character includes the fact that IF Mohammad actually existed, he is regarded as a pedophile by the rest of the world through HER narrations.
But one thing that strikes me in particular about this fairytale character, is an Islamic battle, known as "the battle of the camel." In that battle, according to the myth of Islamic history, Aisha was riding a red camel, and was leading an army against Ali Ibn Abi Talib, a very legendary Islamic character that I plan to deconstruct later on.
In the Shia world, Aisha is regarded as a whore. To backup this claim, Shias cite several Ahadith from Sihah al-Sittah (the 6 Sahih sunni works of Ahadith), from her narrations about breastfeeding men, to her narrations about cleaning cum, to her narrations about a man sleeping over at her place and then washing cum off his clothes the next day, to a lot of other sexual Ahadith that she has narrated in the Sunni works of Ahadith.
A nickname that the mythical prophet of Islam gave to his mythical wife, Aisha, is "Homayra." Which simply means "the Little Scarlet/Red One."
In the case of Aisha, we have 3 things to note: 1. Red Camel 2. Whore of Arabia 3. Homayra (Scarlet/Red)
The book of revelations in the Bible extensively talks about the whore of Babylon, along with other passages in throughout the Bible. The whore of Babylon used to ride a scarlet beast, and she is oftend depicted in red dresses, etc.
In the case of the whore of Babylon, we have 3 things: 1. Red beast 2. Whore of Babylon 3. Red dresses
It is interesting to see that when the Abbasid Islamists were creating their fairytale Islamic religion, where they got their plentiful sources of inspiration from. Neither did Mohammad himself, nor did any of his friends, wives, or enemies ever actually existed.
While other ex-Muslims are using the Sihah al-Sittah and the Quran to create a picture of Mohammad in their heads as a barbaric pedophile mass murderer, and then proceeding to denounce his religion; I am arguing that all of it is fake and a fabrication of later generations, who were simply writing stories. Through government coercion and political support, these stories were later used to create a full fledge cult that was shoved down people's throats through several centuries of propaganda.
Persians of those times were very good at the art of propaganda. Even the word "Media" is Persian 🤦🏻

Timestamp
22 trigger, partially disassembled, all parts present. I believe the safety plunger is upside down here, I replaced it with a BX trigger instead of fiddling with it $37
Bushnell TRS 25s (x2) Seem to be 2 different generations, I don't know which is newer, they both seem to have the same red dot. One is on a UTG metal riser, one is low mount only
TRS25 with riser $50
TRS25 without riser $40
ATS Antidote Hydration Carrier ranger green $40
Grey ghost gear inner belt large $10 add-on
Alice gear canteen pouch $10 add-on
Haley x strap no belly band $35
Ap5 lower $45
Seacu tubes ranger green cummerbund $85
Safariland M&P RDS Multicam cordura X300 holster, some day this fits VP9 too, I do not stand by that but maybe $100
Arbor arms inner belt size 12 $40
Axl tubes adaptor one side with extra female tube $30
Hk hook gloves belt attachment $5 add-on
Magpul MOE SL carbine handguard dyed black from sand $23
Charger chassis from 8" charger $45
OD Green duffel $25
Sig XTen Vedder Comfort-Tuck holster, may fit other Sig X series handguns $45
Wrmfzy leather patch $30
TruMod Hydration Reservoir 3.0 L $10 add on
Angry bear glock small frame blackout sights $35
Magpul SL MP5 Stock unused in box $120
Ruger pocket holster X2 each $7 add on
Mtek flux black all pads basically unused $120
Flecktarn LBT 14L Day Pack $130
Cordell Combat Pants 40x32 Multicam $50
Flecktarn surplus cargo pants size 13, basically 36x34 $36
Multicam Blue alpha molle battle belt size 36 and inner belt with MC S.T.O.M.P and Safariland Mid Ride ubl $225
C & H plate for 320 RMR, model is SGRX-RSH-FIL $45
Alpha Shooting Sports Marksman V4 Glock 19 gen 3 rmr cut slide $250
Mossy oak leather sling $5 add on
Square forge upper with dust cover and forward assist $55
Guntec MLok sharkmouth 10" handguard, was painted and stripped $50
Paypal F & F, no notes. Make an offer if you don't like price.

Yes.. Yess.. Alright there Daddy, I mean Danny. Yeah shut the fuck up.
Verse on Danny: Dear Tank I wrote you a letter. See my daddy wasnt there so now I crave attention. See I would do anything I can to ride your wave for mentions. Even pretended you dissed me just to create dissention. I dug through all you and Pop's songs just to find some ammunition, now im all out of lotion. So my dick burns and my hand is itching. I posted that Pop said some racist shit on Facebook, but changed the title cause I couldnt get your friends to listen. I cant do numbers and I need the advice. I paid my mom for her to advertise me, I need the hype. I hope you see this dog it eases me to sleep at night. Whats it like to actually be dope and have a buzz? I paid Gnat, but I still cant break 20 friends. I wear this crown but my throne is really full of malus. I cant picture me without the drugs.
Verse on John: Dear Tank, I kept tagging you 6 months ago you wouldn't respond. You owe me dog dont leave me here for long. While your out living life and doing things I wish I could, I spend all day on the internet trying to get some looks. I know I said I was straight but yet played victim hook, cause I aint killed nobody. Im not built like that I lived in hoods. Got too much hate up on my diss so I deleted it. I tryna bait me but I miss. So much for clicks and dislikes. I really hate that im a bitch. I cant do shit but diss right? I cant create a single hit. So I take hits from this pipe. Miss shells in the nozzle, got hit with the nasal spay. The Boogeyman of this Bu cocky shit. The only shots are on my face, Im prolly sick, its prolly jizz, I prolly need some molly shit to take this pain away. I just delay it shit. Eyes red, I feel my hood in your hoodie man. Im tryna weather days but im not Boogie Man. Critiqued you for your mental health cause I dont get complexities. Im a simple man with simple bars. I kill a man, Jarrott. it makes sense right? But when you kill a man get jarred hoe. Get sentenced for life. Im just a lonely man with no friends or bodies to show. And if I end it all tomorrow? Shit nobody would know.
Oh we just having fun now.. Let me show yall how to make a diss..
Verse on Gnat: Im waiting, im patient, you baited. You made a grenade on this paper, pull the pen ive been waiting. How you gonna claim wins from your moms basement, you aint got no Ems on your plate list. The crown you been claiming? It aint raining! 5 months Gnat still no reply. John asked about me when his own squad going poltergeist. Dont throw the fight. John started his rap rhyming rap shit 4 times. But you wanna claim im the one whoes lazy? Shit im bored of you poor rhymes. Gnat's masculine hardcore? When he the one clapping back with insults about Star Wars. Outrap me. Come on Gnat roll up. Its Ironic that im Emo. The fuck you killing yourself for? Zareem already murdered you, Stan aint nobody heard of you. Only time you fucks catching bodies in the morgue, you murdered who? Shit the first 48 hours. I know whoes missing. Pop already covered you, exposed you for your googling. Your bars dont connect, dont hide that phone when you spitting no? You need more practice. Unlike LLR this is real life. You claim I run but yet I still fight, outrapped you on your own rhyme scheme, Gnat just got killed twice.
Verse on all 3: Hold up change it up, something yall dont know how to do with that same old boring ass style. Lotta Danny, Got no time for your problems. The shit you spit is nonsense. Begged Ren to do a song with you then he robbed you. How many of us you paying money to gaslight you with fake praise and fake opinions. Gnat calls himself a king? Well thank the lord for me. Got a buzz off my name? now im claiming your royalties. John upset that it took me 1 month, dog it took you 5 months to clap back, you brag about that? 24 hours im back on the track. Get your fat ass back on the track and move quicker. Or maybe not cause your movements sus. And now your mad attacking me cause your raps all suck. Acting like these are lies? Bitch grow up. How about you switch that flow up. Coming with the same cadence dog? We be bored of your shit. You an obsessed little ex whoring for clicks. I feel bad man, Dont be mad stan. Heres a trash can.. For your diss. I stay living in your head without rent. Gnat, better learn your history.. Kings they get beheaded. "The the Boogeyman cause everybody scared of me". What a dope bar, your such a rarity. Talking like you next up. You been here since 2017 where's the check huh? Your best disses got my name in them, Im a Free copy right? Let me put my claim on it. Every time you tag me ill be monetizing you while you advertise me. And fantasize about my friends. Just know I got here without you. So keep on moving, you just a lame whoes pretending. Use my name for the ascension, but my reigns are too extensive. Stay in your lane, got no engine. You start clenching and your plugged in the rear, with no luck and no career. Whoes scared of this dude. Your times up..
Honestly I wasnt even gonna go after you. But theres certain lines you just dont cross. Tryna target my legitimacy? Going after my friends? Calling out anyone you can to diss me and paying them? Danny theres ways to move in this industry properly. You put your hand out and its gonna get slapped. Get back in your fucking lane.
Free's note: Tank is known for having a pen, hes known for his pen and his bars. Like if your gonna say that he doesnt have it cause it went over your fucking head.. You need to look in the mirror. John I did do a speech with you in 2022. That was before you became a big bitch. Bitch ass fuck with nothing better to do than diss. Go back to dissing your mom, cause thats your only good diss John.

As If It Were Kismet: Prologue
Matt tore through the brush, blind in the dark. He didn’t care where he was going. He only knew he needed to be elsewhere. Far from here.
Behind him a creature howled that shocked his mind. It’s form was cruel and dangerous, though female. Nothing like the young woman she had once been. Nothing but a girl, a small and slight female.
It’s guttural growls and howls only grew closer as Matt tried to pick between seeing where he was going and getting away. The few times he looked he caught sight of the creature behind him. Hopping through the air with a speed that told him he was being toyed with. As if he were a mouse being played with by a cat.
But the reflex in him to run kept him going. His adrenaline going as hard as it could. The tightness and burning in his core tensing and locking up as his legs felt like there were being burned from within while taking on more of a heaviness.
His lungs were starting to betray him as he tried to gulp big breaths of air but only rapid and shallow breaths were all that he could manage. His brain was starting to burn….and then he was falling.
Falling down the side of a hill he saw the creature dart in a spring towards him, imperceivably fast almost. Catching him in mid air it seemed.
Managing to wrap its body around him and cushion his impact against the ground as they rolled. His mind barely took in what was happening during the roll. Only starting to understand what was happening once they were still.
The creature's triple D-cup breasts were unmistakably pressed hard against his back as he laid facing up at the night sky.
For a few seconds the world stilled and the needle light pain hitting the center of his brain took over for the cooking heat his brain had felt. His whole body felt heavy and reluctant to move.
Even if he could have really moved, a dull ache came over his limbs making them feel stilled and trapped as if by immeasurable amounts of sand that had engulfed him.
Slowly the arms holding him started to move. Moving so the creature's hands could start exploring him. Causing Matt to unstoppably let out a pathetic moan that made him go cold inside as hands lifted up his shirt and started to touch his exposed stomach and then his chest.
He would have whimpered so pathetically had he not still been in the depths of terror.
As its hands felt and groped his pecs he tried to situp as if to get away. For his efforts, his reward was a hand around his throat and a collection snarls and growls against his ear. A beastly, guttural voice spat words at him while somehow holding a feminine tone.
“Don’t move….I don’t know if I can calm down…”
Her words were not helped by her moans in his ear and the subsequent kissing of his ear. The flesh of his ear going between her lips as she moaned and seemed to pant. Releasing it and licking the side of his face with a moist warmth. He could feel its spittle, viscous and coating his flesh where the tongue touched. He could smell something in his saliva. Something that subtly entranced him.
Matt went stock still with fear and the confusion of mixed arousal. He barely perceived her right hand traveling lower on his body. A surprised moan and shudder echoed in the night from Matt’s lips as she took ahold of him. Her hand above his pants but still….stimulating him.
A light squeezing and almost probing of her digits kept him aroused and confused within her grasp. Resigning himself to the strange fate, Matt looked up at the stars as his mind tried not to shatter under the strange maelstrom of events and sensation that had started mere minutes ago.
His mind was only more confused as a slight figure, feminine in build, how it seemed to thunk the ground audibly as she landed on her feet out nowhere. Her knees barely bending under the pressure of the landing. Yet dirt was kicked up anyways and some of it onto Matt. Feeling it pepper his shirt and pants as it fell.
The figure, lit only faintly by moonlight, roared some dark tone Matt could only perceive as a demon as her eyes went bright with a crimson light. A light in the darkness that should not have been. “Let him go you bitch.” Was its words following the roar. Spittle escaping its mouth with faint droplets hit Matt's face.
The creature holding him by his throat and crotch seemed to tighten the grasp of both hands as it roared back. “HE IS MINE!”
The figure paused with a moment's hesitation. He was also her quarry. She had felt his fear without him knowing. His confused arousal. His fear. His terror.
And now he laid at the center of a struggle between two monsters. Unsure of who he wanted to win.
As If It Was Kismet Ch. 1
Matthew Berkshire hadn’t seen his mom in two years. Not that he had seen her much over the last six years.
A messy divorce between messy people and mom’s chaotic want for a life in Alaska had been one of the most…upsetting times in life. Setting him up for so much of what had defined his life thus far but then that had really started two years before he ever turned.
His ear buds were basic and simple. A part of cheap five pack, common for his life as he was known to lose little things. Small things. They had a mix of metal and hard rock playing in them. Some classics, some alternative. Whatever made him feel something, anything. Even if it was hate. Anger. Rage. It was better than feeling numb. Not belonging.
The escalator down to his lone bag to go with his lone carry on showed his mom waiting for him. His had a type, that’s for damn sure. Not that it helped him in the genetics department as he was stuck at 5’9” to go along with his mother’s five foot even as his dad stood six foot. Forever leaving him to feel small, to pale, under his dad’s shadow. Did he ever stand a chance?
The guy next to her with the unkempt former seventies porn stache was “Dave.” He’d met him twice when his mother came and visited him in Florida. To his credit the guy didn’t look annoyed. Kind of concerned kind of which made Matthew want to break his frozen look but he was well practiced. Having removed any note of sadness from his face through much…tribulation.
His mother’s look on her face betrayed a hint of worry as the bruises on his face lightly showed up close. Saying his name was his like a distant echo that belonged to someone else.
Dave cut in and pulled out his right headphone. “What the hell bud, they knock you hard enough to hurt hearing? Your mom’s asking how you are doing.”
Matthew pulled out the other bud and grunted an empty “sorry.”
“You still have bruises after two week? What did they do to you?” His mom’s voice was full of worry. Something he hadn’t heard in….too long. Too long to make him feel anything. To ever make him believe there was any sincerity to her words. To not think her voice and mannerisms were an act. An act by someone who…wasn’t really there.
“It’s only fair. I took a nose. Fractured a couple orbital bones. Left one with having to get his jaw wired shut. And one will never walk right again for what I did to his knee cap.” Matthew said it all with a bored and disinterested tone. Perhaps well rehearsed.
“My man, handing out ass kickings, not bothering to take names.” Dave was quick to be the typical man’s man about it. Matthew wasn’t quite done yet. Lifting up his shirt to expose the right side near his kidney. Revealing a nasty scar from a six inch blade. “Luckily they gave me this first so they could rule it all in self-defense. The fuck didn’t get it in more than inch before I ruined his knee cap and then I took the nose of one of the fucks holding me.” Now he chose to smile keeping the well practiced dead look in his eyes.
No retorts. No questions. Just horrified looks on their faces. As he liked. As he preferred. They could hate him. They could be disgusted by him. But by God they would fear him.
“Well the doc did a good job sewing you up.” Dave commented uncomfortably. “Dissolving sutures. Ain’t they grand.” He smiled again and let it abruptly fall off his face and started walking to the carousel for the baggage claim.
Waiting and making small talk with Dave as his mother stood in silence. He was not the little boy she abandoned. The little boy she left with an angry man. While never hitting him. Left him in constant fear till he turned twelve and just didn’t care anymore. Something snapped. Broke. And he didn’t care if he died. Didn’t care if he stole. Didn’t even care if he killed. He just knew not to get caught. Something left over from his grandfather’s wisdom which came to make more and more sense with each passing year of life since that thing inside him broke.
Finally his bag came around and Dave went to try first to grab it but Dave practically leapt ahead of him. “Is that your grandfather’s rucksack bag?” his mother asked in a perplexed voice.
“Figured it’s been around since Viet Nam. So it’d serve me better than any of the worthless stuff they called luggage.” Dave commented after Matthew’s words. “Well hell yeah I still got mine from Desert Storm. You know the first one.” Dave laughed and Matthew eyed him oddly. Be it in the south or whether it was Alaska, country boys are country boys he guessed.
The car ride to the two people’s house, as Matthew thought of them. Was uneventful and full of vistas he imagined metropolitan types wetting themselves over. At most they meant isolation to him. Furtherness from the world as there were no mountains in Florida. And what mountains he had last seen in another state had been when he was eight. Another life, to Matthew it felt like. A life alien to him.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 2
Dave and his mom’s place was some two story type tucked into a tree line far up an elevated point. It was by no means the highest point in the mountain but it certainly felt up there.
Rocks were where the driveway should have been Matthew thought. Grabbing his backpack and rucksack from Dave’s jeep was no hard thing for him. Matthew was in formidable shape for someone his age, maybe even five years older. He had gotten a mix of fairly big shoulders and arms along with the chest to go for it when compared to most kids his age. A side effect of working out at least twice a day. First thing in the morning, some time in the evening, and the school’s gym when had had a good semester in school before he had to leave Florida.
Dave tried to come up and help him but Matthew walked past him towards the house. His mom was not sure what to make of his demeanor. Matthew was not the sweet kind boy he had once been. But she had been gone from his life essentially for a long time.
Ushering him into the house she cracked some joke he did not hear. He was too busy looking about and seeing a mix of old outdated decorating mixed with the strange and odd flair of his mother. Color contrasting against drab and dated. Like brightly painting over an old home that was falling apart he thought.
“Your room is this way Mattie.” His mom brightly intoned.
Without expressing any interest he followed his mother. Still faced and nonplussed. Just going along with the current. Pushed and pulled with its roll like a piece of driftwood.
The room was simple. A single small bed. A set of rubber weights with a curl bar and barbells. “Your dad said you were into weight lifting so we got you a bunch of stuff. Dave says it looks like his department’s gym almost. The woman’s smile felt very alien to him.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ve got most of my stuff from home.” Matthew starting unpacking his rucksack and pulled out cables of repetitive and mixed colors. A single plastic barbell handle. The ruck sack could be filled with water bottles for added weight during pushups he figured. Remembering a Michael Keaton movie he watched with his dad post-Batman movies where he played a convicted killer using plastic bags filled with water for weights.
Matthew caught movement outside his lone fairly large window that could let him step out onto the roof of the house given its layout.
He saw a number of people running together through what he guessed was the backyard of the property, not that it had any fences to mark boundaries
They wore clothes that looked similar yet different from each other at the same time.”Oh those are the Johnston’s. Really nice bunch of people. Been on the mountain for a long time Dave tells me.”
Matthew looked at the group of people running and noticed the lack of resemblance. “They are related?” Matthew quizzically asked. Seeing a black and possibly a hispanic person amongst the bland looking white people.
“Oh well they are all adopted but for one or two of them…besides the parents of course. The family has a long tradition of taking in orphans they say. Real nice of them to do that don’t you think.”
Matthew looked at his mother and the hosier accent made no sense to him as he arched his left eye brow. Her and his dad were both from Florida. Born and raised. Sure her parents were from New York city but…
Matthew shook his lightly without turning to look at his mother as his vision was grabbed by one of the runners in particular. A girl of moderate height. Soft brunette. A plain beauty he figured with a slim build….and lack of remarkable breasts and rear to make any note of but….girls in general were his type at his age.
She was pretty enough. He couldn’t deny that but he found himself transfixed by her visage.
But the way she turned and looked at him, especially at that distance felt very disconcerting to him. Even if she was smiling like…she was a taste of a bright shiny day. Somehow.
Matthew’s mom noticed the exchange and smiled to herself with closed lips. “Oh that’s Vicky. She’s your age I think. Very sweet girl, who does the charity functions. You know bake sales, blood drives, car washes and the like. I think you should get to know her. Might be good for you.”
A truck horn sounded a couple of beeps in rather succession. “Oh that must be Mack, he said he might come by later this evening but he seems early.”
Matthew’s mother turned and left his room. Leaving Matthew to exchange a few looks with the alluring Vicky as she turned her head away from him to talk to the others in her group and look back at him.
Still Matthew’s left eyebrow was arched. In a way that reminded him of Spock from Star Trek that he and his grandpa used to watch on some streaming service or another.
As he heard ambient chatter elsewhere outside the house he figured to check it out as the alluring sight of Vicky would be around he figured. It was dull to stare at artwork. He was a boy who preferred jet skis and the like. Something he could ride and enjoy immensely. Even if at times it got him stabbed.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 3
Matthew sauntered out of the house and down the rockway that stood in for a driveway.
A few new people had come over from what he could first surmise of the situation. As he got closer it was obvious they were indigenous people. A couple of grown men…and a girl?
She was mousey. Maybe five foot. Hiding behind glasses and a big camo jacket that was far too big for her. It looked made for a grown man and the backwards trucker hat on her head kept her long black a beautiful mess of sorts.
She was cute in a way. A little androgynous but she had a cute energy to her. She reminded him of the more tomboyish Puerto Rican girls he had gotten into back in Florida. Given the deer corpses in the back of the truck….probably more dangerous to play with given the men in her family.
Small chatter passed between the adults when the girl noticed but turned away, trying to hide the tiny hint of a smile.
“Oh Mattie, this is Mack. He works with Dave at the sheriff’s department and John, he’s with fish and wildlife.” Matthew nodded at his mom’s words with some blankness as he looked at the deer the in the back of the pickup truck.
“Gale tells us you hunted with your dad some in Florida and Georgia.” Mack offered with a light hearted laugh camouflaged by his big simple and cheery but husky way he spoke.
Looking in the back of the truck he spoke. “We used lever action thirty-thirties and Mosin Nagants in seven-six-two-fifty-four-rimmed.” Mack and John whistled in an exaggerated fashion. Leaving Matthew to wonder if they were mocking him.
Mack spoke. “Well we just used thirty-odd-six in a custom gussied Garand.” That caught Matthew’s attention. “You have a Garand…” Matthew finally demonstrated interest in anything. “My dad has an SVT-40 and a Hakim 8mm but he always wanted a Garand but was too cheap to buy one.”
Gale, his mother, chimed in loudly. “Oh his Dad loved his guns but was such an odd duck about how he bought or why he bought them. Never made sense to me how he wasn’t a collector but he didn’t get the latest and greatest.” Gale laughed uncomfortably. At least it seemed that way to Matthew.
Matthew pointed to the girl with an underhanded pointing hand. “And who is this? A cute little mute mouse or does she have a name?” Dave and the other men laughed.
Mack again spoke. “Well you people call her Rebecca, she’s my adopted daughter.” Matthew was taken aback by what he heard. “You people?”
Rebecca kindly spoke with a soft but almost melodic voice as she struggled to maintain eye contact. “White people or rather not members of our tribe. It’s just easier to appease the colonizer kind of thing. Borrowed from when the Jesuit missionaries chased us up here.”
Mack stepped in. “It’s just easier to have white people names than have them try to say our tribal names. And we don’t want them shortening or Anglicising our names kind of thing.” Rebecca stepped back into the conversation cutting off her adopted father. “It’s an insult to our history basically.”
Matthew cocked his head sideways raising his eyebrows shortly before letting them drop. “Well as soon as I’m eighteen I’m out of here and back to Florida so I’m a sort of involuntary colonizer of sorts. So I won’t be taking any of your land from you. The Seminoles on the other hand are still shit out of luck.”
Rebecca’s smile caused Matthew to reflexively smile. Mack made the moment more awkward. “See Becca, I told you someone off the reservation would like you some. You just have to be creative.” Mack laughed in a chiding manner…Matthew presumed. He sensed that he was the butt of some kind of cultural joke. Like marrying a white guy was some sort of insult or mark of shame. That kind of thing.
Rebecca turning away from him was not something he had been expecting. Her then getting in the truck in a huff left the group in a silence for a moment.
Dave spoke to break the awkward silence. “Well just bring the truck to work on Monday and leave it for me to grab up.” Mack acknowledged Dave and they started to get off as Rebecca looked at Matthew for another instance. Matthew couldn’t look away for some reason as the two seemed to lock eyes for an instance.
Till Vicky and family seemed to come jogging down the road. While Matthew’s eyes diverted from Rebecca’s. Hers did not till she realized he was looking elsewhere. And her vision found Vicky and what had been a hint of smile on her face turned glum and disappointed.
Matthew did not look away from the vision of Vicky but instead of a starry eyed fool looking longingly. It was a baffled look. Well baffled for him, with his eyes drawn narrow and night with a focus.
There was something about her…he couldn’t quite put a name too. The way she appeared to him. One second brunette. The next second blonde or blonde like. As if the color appeared in her air and disappeared in fractions of seconds. Much the same way her body almost seemed to…shift…very subtly…smoothly. A nicer bum. Larger breasts. And then back to a simple and plain form. Feminine no doubt. Attractive. But not so…remarkable.
As If It Was Kismet Ch 4
The next two days passed without incident. Nothing of any real substance or challenge to note.
Matthew got settled somewhat and started working out almost immediately. Exploring around the woods but Dave told him not to go far. Especially without a hunting rifle. Dave had left a simple semi-auto Winchester out for him. His bear gun as Dave referred to it with its four round magazine. But Matt figured till he got some practice with the rifle to leave it alone. He made a hiking stick like his grandpa taught him and treated it over a low fire. He would take some electrical tape for the end his hand would grip around. Plenty enough to ward off anything smaller than a bear he figured.
The ride to school was a pain in the neck but simple enough. Dave would let him use a clunker pickup truck he had laying around. It wasn’t pretty but it would get him to and from. Even if it was from the eighties and still backfired on occasion. But for now Dave and his mom took him on their way to the sheriff’s department.
It wasn’t much of a school. It wanted to be modern but its fifties original construction was very obvious. It serviced the pipeline families and familys’ of fisherman who worked the seasons in between their time at the pipeline.
Matt was to report to the principal for some reason Dave and his mom wouldn’t share. Which annoyed him but he figured it was to read him the law of land. Small towns with their big views of the outside world and like.
Dressed in jeans, a grey sweatshirt under a light jacket with steel toed boots set him more apart then he expected. His buzzed head didn’t help matters. Already he was feeling like a stranger in a strange land but he was quite strange after all. And he liked it that way. Normal people were so pathetically disappointing to him.
A secretary or assistant or some such led him to the principal’s office. Where it reeked of real wood that was old and fabric and upholstery that needed to be updated for the last twenty years, Matt figured.
“This is Matthew Berkshire, Principal Andrews.” The man was turned with his back to the door and he was quick to wave her off as he turned her around.
He was an older man. Fat and large. Tall with a body built like he had once been fit and a demeanour of annoyed and irate already as he fixed Matt with a scowl and look of disgust. Another worthless government whore. Matt thought to himself. His father and his grandfather had bestowed unto him a natural disrespect for government workers and the figures that wore unjustified authority as a shield but pretended the weight of the state was not at their back ready to crush all who resisted. Little figures of valor pretending to be mighty and alone but acting with the tyranny of the state and all the backing.
“Mr. Berkshire, please sit down.” His tone wasn’t unusually hostile, just gruff. As if he had better things to do.
Matt complied and took a seat in the chair while maintaining a friendly facade. Not everyone was an enemy. And not everyone needed to be an enemy. Even if anybody could be any enemy. There was no reason to make enemies you didn’t have to. Another of his grandfather’s bastardised wisdoms.
“Well I looked over you file and you have quite the history Mr. Berkshire.” Matt resisted qiuping back a joke. Instead he waited for Principal Andrews to continue as he remained nonplussed and looking as if he felt no need to respond. A simple head tilt with dead eyes looking back at the principle as if he was not even there would suffice.
Matt’s reaction or lack of a reaction rather made Principal Andrews only narrow his eyes with examination. He was not used to a kid not responding to him. Especially with his gruff and hard act going on.
“Well by all accounts you moved here after some problems at your last school. A fight broke out and you did some real harm to your fellow students it appears.” Of course, he would take the side of the perpetrators. School administrators always did. Especially when they weren’t white. Just a fact of the times. Cowardice and pathetic mediocrity was the way they leaned, like good government workers sucking the dick of Big Daddy government. Worthless whores.
Matt chose to reply. “Oh you mean the criminals that stabbed me. Got arrested at the hospital and then pled to felonies. Yeah Florida, with the American counties are good like that.” Principal Andrews went real still. No shame. No fear. No penitence. He didn’t like that.
“Well be it as it may Mr. Berkshire we don’t tolerate that kind of behaviour here…” Matt cut him off responding with a deadpan tone. “You mean self-defense meant to save one’s own life while the cowardly and pathetic school workers look on with zero interest but to keep their money rolling in and will allow known gang members with records of violent acts and crimes that should have them expelled many times over, where in certain Democrat counties such cowardice and idiocy empowered a couple school shooters?”
Principal Andrews looked at the Matt with a note of disgust. “Look here Mr. Berkshire, your beliefs matter not one bit here. This isn’t Florida. We don’t like our way of life being disrupted by outside agitators who have problems with authority.”
Matt did his best not to roll his eyes and let the older fat man drone own as he dead-stared him. Lifeless and without emotion.
The man came to a finish and Matt spoke up without having listened to him or paid him any attention. “Great now that’s taken care of. Can I please get to class and finish my sentence of two years at your wonderful school?”
Principal Andrews huffed and snorted before calling in Vicky. Vicky stood in the corner after entering with a quiet and seamless presence. Matt felt disturbed and tried not betray his feelings as the young Vicky was perceived and not perceived to be moving.
Principal Andrews made the introductions and Matt nodded back. She was to be his chaperone for the day. They had the same classes and she was to show him the ropes so to speak. The ins and outs of the school. The locations of their classes.
He recognized her. It was hard not to. The way her appearance seemed to shift fluidly almost. The petite and skinny brunette ever so lightly had a big bust and blonde hair with curves added when she seemed to shift before his eyes. Like watching a film but each frame had a different person.
Matt didn’t say anything about it. Even if he did he would only be acknowledging his crazed state, if he had one. If.
Unlike an obedient puppy dog he got up in a slow and awkward fashion and followed behind her as his oddly disproportionate frame allowed. Causing her a note of concern for some reason. As if she was seeing something she shouldn’t have been….Or he was just weird. And Matt could admit to himself he was just weird. Part of his charm, he would jest about it at times. Not that he had many people to jest to now.
As If It Were Kismet Ch. 5
Following Vicky into the hall off to their first class was simple. She exchanged small talk and he slightly smiled as if to obviously suggest he was just being polite.
Inside his head, Matt was trying to figure out if he was having a psychotic break. The way Vicky looked kept changing and he looked at the other people around him and they stayed the same.
He was searching his mind as they were walking. And thus he wasn’t paying attention to where he was looking and so fell to his face forward over his feet seemingly out of nowhere.
A series of laughs erupted as it sunk in that he was obviously tripped. Like in prison this was a challenge to his superiority. If he let this pass he would be mocked and sneered at by this same group of boys. He wouldn’t walk to them like he was going to do nothing like a little bitch.
In a rage he turned and punched the stomach of the first face he saw. Some typical blonde haired wannabe jock. He knew from experience not to aim for the ribs. Instead he needed to aim for where he thought the belly button was.
Yells and screams blindly echoed around him as his after the punch he followed up his elbow of the opposite arm slamming into the face of the jock. Harder than a fist, the elbow struck the jock’s jaw and seemingly dropped him against a locker. Just in time to catch an errant and soft punch to the nose that sure enough hurt but did little to slow him down as his dad had taught him to fight through the pain. Blood and scars happened. They were a natural consequence of life to a man.
Taking the punch and falling further into his red state Matt headbutted the punch thrower before another guy arm bared his throat from behind. Which he managed to get his grip on the arm over a letterman jacked and jerk the unprepared boy to the side with him still latched on.
A few feet away from the lockers Matt knew his only chance was to jump and push off the lockers and knock the boy to the ground and so he did. He heard a thunk of the boy’s skull bouncing off the ground and he turned to pull out of the grapple.
The beatings he had taken from his father, the grapples, being choked unconscious. Had prepared him for fighting little bitches who didn’t know what a fight was. It wasn’t gay porn with rabbit punch fists flying.
Blood was running down his face and the pain started to hit him as the threats had been eliminated. Only then did he remember to breathe. Taking breathes as Vicky came up to him with tissues and took a hold of his nose.
“Owww owww owww what the fuck my nose could be broken.” He said to Vicky as she pulled his head up and back.
“It’s ok Carl. It’s done.” Matt tried to look to see who Vicky was talking to. It was a boy taller than his 5’9” by more than a small margin. The boy eyed him bored and annoyed before speaking. “What happened here?” An unoriginal line but one Matt couldn’t be a smart aleck about. “Well you see there was an outbreak of tripping and we all tripped over my dick. It happens.” Matt was about to laugh when Vicky seemed to pull up while still gripping his nose causing Matt no small amount of pain which he audibly evidenced.
Vicky spoke in a tone he wasn’t expecting. As if she was accustomed to issuing orders. “Keep Iris away from the hall till we sanitize the site. We have blood from at least three people contaminating the site. And have Jake bring me a spare jacket and shirt for this moron.”
Carl seemed to acknowledge her orders and seemed to blink away. Maybe the punch hit harder than he expected. He had no time to wonder as Vick took her hand away from his and pushed him against the lockers. With ease he had not been expecting from her form and stature.
Before he could respond Vicky licked his blood covered chin and then his lips and spoke to him. “Focus on me you little blood bag.” Her tone had an annoyed yet feminine sneer.
“Look into my eyes. Look at me. You belong to me. You are just another food source in a collection of food sources.” Her eyes were a beautiful hazel Matt thought. Almost green. Pretty like jewels in some old treasure collections. The eyes he could get lost in before kissing her. Finally Vicky was just a slight and petite brunette and he thought she was beautiful.
She would make a hell of a girlfriend. Some cute thing he could see laying on the beach in Florida on their sides laughing and smiling before trading light kisses while hands wandered innocently. Before his mind could drift further he felt her lips on his. It took him a second to mentally grasp the kiss but his arms were around her back as her hands were at his sides. His eyes reflexively closed as he saw hers close.
It was ineffable to Matt. Beyond words, what was happening. The kiss, the moments beforehand. The way his brain tickled with electricity and gentle warmth. He had never had a kiss like this and he had traded more than a few kisses with at least a few girls.
The kiss was like a warm bath with his consciousness slipping beneath the surface. Their lips only parted to try new angles and approaches as Matt struggled to take in breath. It was a moment he could have stayed trapped in for….he didn’t know. But a curt throat clearing by another girl pulled them out of the moment.
The girl was taller than Vicky. Blonde. With slight curves. Vicky addressed her bewildered and gobsmacked, and perhaps a bit embarrassed. “Tina?”

Getting an iPhone in India is basically a huge deal for an individual. It involves a lot of financial planning and timing to get the latest iPhone. I come from a middle-class Indian family and I am no different. When Apple released the iPhone 14 Pro series with the Dynamic Island, I was really into it. But, working as a tech writer and having the knowledge that Apple would add the same to the lower-end iPhone 15 models, I waited a year, and Apple did add the Dynamic Island to the lower-end iPhone models in 2023.
As I was already planning to get the iPhone 15, I had saved for it. Hence, without a second thought, I got the device in October 2023. It was a blue iPhone 15 and it was a big deal for me!
Fast forward to February 2024, I was going on a planned trip to Kasol with my friends. We had to catch a train from Sealdah, Kolkata, and to get there, we planned to take a local train to Sealdah station. So, we got to our nearest local station and were waiting for the train. During that whole waiting time, a person was standing right next to us and was fiddling with his phone but also giving questionable looks to us.
The train finally came and if you are an Indian, you would know the amount of struggle that one needs to go through to get on a packed local train. We all had rucksack backpacks and went through the struggling ordeal to simply get on the train. That was not all! During the whole ride, I could not move anywhere or any body part due to the sheer amount of people surrounding me.
When we reached Sealdah, our final station, I got down with my friends. Then, my mother called my girlfriend's phone to check on us and told her that she could not call me as my phone was switched off. I thought that my phone was not switched off and should be right in my pocket. I went on to check my pocket only to find out that it was gone! It most probably was the guy who was giving the looks to us when we were waiting for the train.
Naturally, I started panicking big time and went straight to the Railway Police station nearby to report it. By the time we filed a report, our main train left the station and as a result, our entire trip was canceled. Without a phone in my hand and after having a dreadful day, I went back home.
Find My [The Savior]
Now, as my girlfriend also had an iPhone 11 and was a part of the Apple Family plan, I used it to put the stolen iPhone 15 in Lost Mode via the Find My app. I checked the location of the phone in Find My and it showed a station that falls between our local station and Sealdah.
My aunt is in the police force, so I informed her about the stolen device. She told me that as it is an iPhone, it would be difficult to locate its position. However, she got the IMEI slots of the device blocked and said that if anyone puts a SIM card in it and tries to use it, the device will be marked. Only then the police could locate the user and grab him.
I knew that no one would be able to unlock it and put a SIM to use it. Apple has some great security features that prevent thieves from accessing personal information stored in an iPhone. Hence, I was sure that he would never be able to unlock or reset the device.
Someone once told me that stolen mobile devices are taken to Bangladesh and sold in black markets. If the mobile devices are locked, they even open up the parts and sell them individually.
Days went by and there were no updates about the phone, neither from the police nor from Find My. As I work with iPhones and as it was so dear to me, I broke an FD to get another iPhone 15 in the meantime. I also closed the EMI for the previous device with the same and accepted the situation.
Now, a few weeks ago, the stolen iPhone 15 started pinging locations in Find My on my iPhone. In the meantime, my girlfriend also got an iPhone 15 and started checking the Find My app obsessively on her device to track its locations daily. Some days it showed multiple locations, and some days it was stagnant.
The more regular locations from where the iPhone was pinging were near a place called Canning. The place is known as the "Gateway of Sunderbans" and is one of the biggest crime hubs. If you search for Canning on YouTube or Google, you will get a gist of it.
Citing the last known location of the iPhone showing Canning station, I and my partner went there one day despite the risks, dangers, and warnings. Although we did not get any further location updates that day, we scoured around the place but did not talk to anyone. While returning home disappointed, we stopped by the police station there to let them know about the situation.
The next day, the iPhone showed multiple locations near the city of Kolkata, though none of them were much closer to my home. However, the day after that, my girlfriend woke me up in the morning to show that the phone was pinging a location that was very close to my place. Not only that, the phone pinged the same location thrice since she started checking the Find My app. So, I immediately got up and went to the location.
It was in a place called Dover Lane (Kolkata), near a residential tower and a hotel. I went there, parked the car, and started hovering around the place, trying to locate the person who we suspect stole the phone. During that time, the phone pinged the location once or twice, and at one point, it even showed that the device was "With You" in Find My.
I stood at the location for four hours and tried to spot the suspect. During that whole time, I kept the Find My app open on my current phone to aid the stolen device ping the location. However, it showed location was updated 3 hours ago.
Hopelessly, I sat in my car, thinking of returning home without the device. Just then, I saw this guy with a red t-shirt passing by my car. He looked like a young migrant worker or a daily laborer. His t-shirt was a bit torn and his pants were pretty dirty. I don't know why I looked at him in the first place but that is when I saw him take a phone out of his pocket.
"Is that a pale-blue colored phone?" Yes. He turned on the screen. "Is that the iPhone's Dynamic Island?" Yes! "Why is he on a setup screen?" I have no idea!
Right at that moment, I check the Find My app. After 3 hours, the location was finally updated and the "With You" tag was back. I hurriedly got out of my car and followed the guy for a few meters. He stopped at a local shop to get a beedi. Just when he was about to light it, I went up to him and said "Show me your phone, brother!". He answered, that there was no balance to make a call. I said that I didn't want to make a call.
"Just give the phone. I want to see it once!", I said. He immediately got it out and handed the device. During my usage, I once dropped the iPhone 15 and that made a tiny dent on the chassis, just above the screen. I checked for it, and it sure was there!
I grabbed the phone tight and said "Let's go to the police, kid!" Bewildered, he said, "That is not my phone, I got it from a friend! My own phone was stolen a few days ago and my friend gave this to me for the time, until I get a new one. If you want to go to the police, I sure can but believe me I did not know that this phone was stolen."
Now, it is worth noting that this guy was not the guy who we suspected stole the device. He was 25-28 years of age. This guy was just 18! He was still a kid.
I asked him where does he live and what does he do for a living. He said that he lives near Canning and works as a housekeeper in the city. Then I asked him, you cannot use this iPhone whatsoever, it is in the setup-screen and is showing locked to owner, so what exactly are you doing with this device? He said that when my friend gave it to me, I liked this phone. So whenever I leave the house, I carry it around just for "fancy"!
We knew that if we took him to the police, they would lock him up and beat him. The kid was just 18. So, after taking his name, address, and father's name, we let him go!
I emailed the GRPS at Sealdah where I first filed the FIR that I got the phone back.
To be honest, I had zero hopes of getting back the stolen iPhone, and that too with Find My. But thanks to my girlfriend who never lost hope and also motivated me to try and retrieve the device.
After all this, I have a newfound respect for Apple's Find My network and am surprised that it works so very well. It is one of the most underrated features of an iPhone that more people need to appreciate.
So, that is my iPhone story. If you ever lose your iPhone or have it stolen, do not, I repeat, DO NOT underestimate the power of Find My, and above all, never lose hope!

Billboard Hot 100 chart

Position	Title	Artist	▲/▼	Last week	Weeks Charting	Peak
1	Not Like Us	Kendrick Lamar	▲+100	[FRESH]	1	1
2	Million Dollar Baby	Tommy Richman	-	2	2	2
3	Euphoria	Kendrick Lamar	▲+8	11	2	3
4	Fortnight	Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone	▼-3	1	3	1
5	A Bar Song (Tipsy)	Shaboozey	▼-2	3	4	3
6	Like That	Future, Metro Boomin & Kendrick Lamar	▲+2	8	7	1
7	Family Matters	Drake	▲+94	[FRESH]	1	7
8	Espresso	Sabrina Carpenter	▼-4	4	4	4
9	Beautiful Things	Benson Boone	▼-4	5	16	2
10	Lose Control	Teddy Swims	▼-4	6	39	1
11	Too Sweet	Hozier	▼-4	7	7	1
12	Meet The Grahams	Kendrick Lamar	▲+89	[FRESH]	1	12
13	Saturn	SZA	▼-1	12	11	6
14	We Can't Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)	Ariana Grande	▲+5	19	9	1
15	I Can Do It With A Broken Heart	Taylor Swift	▼-6	9	3	3
16	Down Bad	Taylor Swift	▼-6	10	3	2
17	Push Ups	Drake	-	17	3	17
18	Lovin On Me	Jack Harlow	▼-3	15	26	1
19	Stick Season	Noah Kahan	▲+4	23	32	9
20	I Remember Everything	Zach Bryan Featuring Kacey Musgraves	▲+4	24	37	1
21	Get It Sexyy	Sexyy Red	▲+11	32	8	20
22	Feather	Sabrina Carpenter	▲+7	29	23	21
23	I Like The Way You Kiss Me	Artemas	▲+3	26	7	12
24	Cruel Summer	Taylor Swift	▲+4	28	53	1
25	Greedy	Tate McRae	▲+2	27	34	3
26	Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me?	Taylor Swift	▼-13	13	3	9
27	Type Shit	Future, Metro Boomin, Travis Scott & Playboi Carti	▲+4	31	7	2
28	So Long, London	Taylor Swift	▼-14	14	3	5
29	Yeah Glo!	GloRilla	▲+9	38	13	29
30	But Daddy I Love Him	Taylor Swift	▼-12	18	3	7
31	My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys	Taylor Swift	▼-15	16	3	6
32	Agora Hills	Doja Cat	▲+1	33	33	7
33	Florida!!!	Taylor Swift Featuring Florence + The Machine	▼-13	20	3	8
34	Austin	Dasha	▲+9	43	9	28
35	Guilty As Sin?	Taylor Swift	▼-13	22	3	10
36	Texas Hold 'Em	Beyonce	▼-11	25	13	1
37	Miles On It	Marshmello & Kane Brown	▲+64	[FRESH]	1	37
38	The Tortured Poets Department	Taylor Swift	▼-17	21	3	4
39	End Of Beginning	Djo	-	39	12	11
40	Wanna Be	GloRilla & Megan Thee Stallion	▼-6	34	5	11
41	Whatever She Wants	Bryson Tiller	-	41	12	19
42	Cowgirls	Morgan Wallen Featuring ERNEST	▲+59	--	21	40
43	Redrum	21 Savage	▲+3	46	17	5
44	Never Lose Me	Flo Milli	▲+1	45	21	15
45	Where It Ends	Bailey Zimmerman	▲+5	50	19	32
46	Good Luck, Babe!	Chappell Roan	▲+2	48	5	44
47	Act II: Date @ 8	4Batz Featuring Drake	▲+6	53	18	7
48	Gata Only	FloyyMenor X Cris Mj	▼-4	44	8	27
49	Carnival	¥$: Ye & Ty Dolla $ign Featuring Rich The Kid & Playboi Carti	▼-7	42	13	1
50	Illusion	Dua Lipa	▲+22	72	4	43
51	The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived	Taylor Swift	▼-21	30	3	14
52	Slow It Down	Benson Boone	▲+9	61	7	40
53	loml	Taylor Swift	▼-17	36	3	12
54	Fresh Out The Slammer	Taylor Swift	▼-19	35	3	11
55	Made For Me	Muni Long	▼-1	54	17	20
56	The Alchemy	Taylor Swift	▼-19	37	3	13
57	Wild Ones	Jessie Murph & Jelly Roll	-	57	31	35
58	FE!N	Travis Scott Featuring Playboi Carti	▲+2	60	27	5
59	Obsessed	Olivia Rodrigo	▲+8	67	7	14
60	Wildflowers And Wild Horses	Lainey Wilson	▼-5	55	15	48
61	Get In With Me	BossMan DLow	▲+12	73	14	49
62	imgonnagetyouback	Taylor Swift	▼-13	49	3	26
63	I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)	Taylor Swift	▼-23	40	3	20
64	Bulletproof	Nate Smith	▲+6	70	5	64
65	So High School	Taylor Swift	▼-18	47	3	24
66	Tell Ur Girlfriend	Lay Bankz	▼-8	58	4	58
67	The Black Dog	Taylor Swift	▼-16	51	3	25
68	Back Then Right Now	Tyler Hubbard	▼-3	65	8	62
69	Hell N Back	Bakar Featuring Summer Walker	▼-1	68	5	53
70	Clara Bow	Taylor Swift	▼-18	52	3	21
71	Tucson Too Late	Jordan Davis	▲+20	91	10	71
72	Bandit	Don Toliver	▲+20	92	13	38
73	Mmhmm	BigXthaPlug	▲+6	79	20	63
74	Scared To Start	Michael Marcagi	▲+3	77	12	54
75	Enough (Miami)	Cardi B	▲+6	81	8	9
76	Halfway To Hell	Jelly Roll	▲+7	83	5	76
77	The Prophecy	Taylor Swift	▼-21	56	3	32
78	Cinderella	Future, Metro Boomin & Travis Scott	▼-2	76	7	6
79	Training Season	Dua Lipa	▲+22	--	10	27
80	Wind Up Missin' You	Tucker Wetmore	-	80	6	75
81	How Did It End?	Taylor Swift	▼-19	62	3	35
82	We Ride	Bryan Martin	▲+11	93	5	82
83	Dirt Cheap	Cody Johnson	▲+11	94	3	83
84	Belong Together	Mark Ambor	▲+3	87	2	84
85	Outskirts	Sam Hunt	▲+1	86	9	66
86	Si No Quieres No	Luis R Conriquez x Neton Vega	▲+15	[FRESH]	1	86
87	Tu Name	Fuerza Regida	▼-2	85	12	66
88	thanK you aIMee	Taylor Swift	▼-29	59	3	23
89	The Albatross	Taylor Swift	▼-25	64	3	30
90	23	Chayce Beckham	▼-2	88	19	45
91	Adivino	Myke Towers & Bad Bunny	▼-28	63	2	63
92	Wine Into Whiskey	Tucker Wetmore	▲+4	96	7	77
93	II Most Wanted	Beyonce & Miley Cyrus	▼-4	89	6	6
94	I Hate It Here	Taylor Swift	▼-28	66	3	34
95	Whatsapp (Wassam)	Gunna	▲+6	[FRESH]	1	95
96	Spin You Around (1/24)	Morgan Wallen	▲+2	98	15	24
97	One Of The Girls	The Weeknd, Jennie & Lily Rose Depp	▼-7	90	20	51
98	Let's Go	Key Glock & Young Dolph	▲+2	100	9	59
99	Take Her Home	Kenny Chesney	▲+2	[FRESH]	1	99
100	Chloe Or Sam Or Sophia Or Marcus	Taylor Swift	▼-31	69	3	36

Billboard Global 200 chart (most popular songs globally)

Position	Title	Artist	▲/▼	Last week	Weeks Charting	Peak
1	Not Like Us	Kendrick Lamar	▲+100	[FRESH]	1	1
2	Million Dollar Baby	Tommy Richman	▲+8	10	2	2
3	Espresso	Sabrina Carpenter	▼-1	2	4	2
4	Euphoria	Kendrick Lamar	▲+14	18	2	4
5	A Bar Song (Tipsy)	Shaboozey	▲+1	6	4	5
6	Fortnight	Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone	▼-5	1	3	1
7	Beautiful Things	Benson Boone	▼-3	4	16	1
8	I Like The Way You Kiss Me	Artemas	▼-5	3	7	2
9	Too Sweet	Hozier	▼-4	5	7	1
10	Gata Only	FloyyMenor X Cris Mj	▼-3	7	13	4

Billboard 200 chart

Position	Title	Artist	Sales	Change	Last week	Weeks Charting
1	The Tortured Poets Department	Taylor Swift	285,505 (51,028 pure)	-36%	1	3
2	Radical Optimism	Dua Lipa	83,814 (52,788 pure)	--	[FRESH]	1
3	One Thing At A Time	Morgan Wallen	71,563 (1,483 pure)	+7%	2	62
4	We Don't Trust You	Future & Metro Boomin	62,293 (188 pure)	+4%	3	7
5	SEVENTEEN Best Album '17 Is Right Here'	SEVENTEEN	54,465 (50,790 pure)	--	[FRESH]	1
6	Vultures 1	¥$: Ye & Ty Dolla $ign	err	err	52	13
7	Dangerous: The Double Album	Morgan Wallen	42,315 (432 pure)	+7%	6	174
8	Cowboy Carter	Beyonce	42,201 (4,928 pure)	-19%	4	6
9	Stick Season	Noah Kahan	40,675 (3,588 pure)	+1%	5	76
10	SOS	SZA	39,353 (1,948 pure)	+3%	9	74

Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Why is X artist higher than Y artist on the 200 chart, even though X artist sold less?
A: This is because of a discrepancy between Billboard's ranking and the ranking from the website that the sales data is scraped from
Q: Where do you get the sales data from?
A: https://hitsdailydouble.com/sales_plus_streaming
Q: What does "err" mean on the 200 chart?
A: If you are seeing "err", that means that the bot I use to gather chart data couldn't identify sales data for a particular album because of a difference in album naming between Billboard and HitsDailyDouble

So, I (33f) have been riding horses most of my life - 24 years. Due to a messy parental situation, I started paying the bills to my own horse when I was 16 and always worked half of my board off. I did all the chores and during college was usually at the barn 2-3 times a day between classes and two jobs.
I did some horse showing, but not a ton, but my grandparents came to several of them.
My grandmother is VERY out of touch, as she has been retired since I was young. She doesn't like people, she can be volatile, is very immature but her mind is very sharp. She has a lot of control issues and absolutely needs therapy but of course will never go. She's not a bad person. She's just...a boomer 🤷🏼‍♀️
Anyways.
My horse of 15 years had passed (about 6 years ago now) and I went without horses for 3 years. My husband and I decided to get a property so I could have horses again. I already had 2 horses lined up and was very excited, so I announced it to my family during a get together.
My grandmother furrowed her brows and started asking all these stupid questions. I've made a list below. Remember, I've been doing this for 24 years, I worked with 2 trainers and did all of my own care.
-How are you going to feed them? -How are you going to get hay to your property? -What about all the poop? -How are you going to do all that work AND work a full time job?!?! -how are you going to care for two horses instead of one? -how are you going to take care of their feet? -How are you going to ride a new horse?
and on and on, interrogating me. I was PISSED. My family did VERY little to support my passion for horses and I worked my ass off since I was 16 to keep my horse. I paid for EVERYTHING. I did everything. I worked off riding lessons and I worked HARD.
I finally stood up, slammed my hand on the table and said, "You don't know a single thing about horses and I have professional training. I don't know why you think you have a right to interrogate me, as I didn't ask for your approval."
My grandmother said, "Well you haven't had horses on your own property before!" and I saw red. I yelled at her and replied, "I did ALL of my own work for my horse!! I know what I am doing!"
My mom pulled my grandmother to the side and told her to knock it off.
But once I got my two horses home and on my own property, my grandmother became VERY strangely VERY attached to my horses. One was 6 months old and I would be raising him myself and the other was a 15 year old rescue I would be retraining.
My grandmother had my mom drive her and my grandfather out to my small property several times and she CONSTANTLY berated me, questioned me, and challenged me. I told her these were MY horses and I would take her privileges away if she didn't stop.
My husband and I decided to move states and the first thing my grandmother said was, "I won't ever get to see your horses again" and ran to her room to cry.
She never ONCE acted like this with my previous horse of 15 years.
I love my grandparents but moving away was one of the best decisions we have ever made.
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Background

The septons preach about the seven hells. What do they know? Only a man who's been burned knows what hell is truly like. -AGOT, Sansa II

GRRM has been hinting around about Sandor Clegane and his relationship with fire since the beginning (its the first thing mentioned about him in AGOT, Eddard I). In this post I thought I would explore that a bit and see what it could mean for TWoW.
Note: I don't think gods exist in ASOIAF, they are just sources of magic. So when I say R'hllor throughout the post I pretty much just mean "fire magic".
The Initial Burning
While the Hound is walking Sansa home from the Hand's Tourney, he gives Sansa the story of how he was burned:

"Most of them, they think it was some battle. A siege, a burning tower, an enemy with a torch. One fool asked if it was dragonsbreath." His laugh was softer this time, but just as bitter. "I'll tell you what it was, girl," he said, a voice from the night, a shadow leaning so close now that she could smell the sour stench of wine on his breath. "I was younger than you, six, maybe seven. A woodcarver set up shop in the village under my father's keep, and to buy favor he sent us gifts. The old man made marvelous toys. I don't remember what I got, but it was Gregor's gift I wanted. A wooden knight, all painted up, every joint pegged separate and fixed with strings, so you could make him fight. Gregor is five years older than me, the toy was nothing to him, he was already a squire, near six foot tall and muscled like an ox. So I took his knight, but there was no joy to it, I tell you. I was scared all the while, and true enough, he found me. There was a brazier in the room. Gregor never said a word, just picked me up under his arm and shoved the side of my face down in the burning coals and held me there while I screamed and screamed. You saw how strong he is. Even then, it took three grown men to drag him off me. The septons preach about the seven hells. What do they know? Only a man who's been burned knows what hell is truly like. -AGOT, Sansa II

Bran's Vision
Several chapters before that, we see the Hound's "terrible face" in Bran's vision of the shadows during his coma dream (note that the scope of the series was much smaller here):

He looked south, and saw the great blue-green rush of the Trident. He saw his father pleading with the king, his face etched with grief. He saw Sansa crying herself to sleep at night, and he saw Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets hard in her heart. There were shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood. -AGOT, Bran III

worth noting that R'hllor is referred to as the "god of flame and shadow" as well:

On one side is R'hllor, the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God of Flame and Shadow. Against him stands the Great Other whose name may not be spoken, the Lord of Darkness, the Soul of Ice, the God of Night and Terror. Ours is not a choice between Baratheon and Lannister, between Greyjoy and Stark. It is death we choose, or life. Darkness, or light." -ASOS, Davos III

The Blackwater
In his next encounter with fire, the Hound flees the Battle on the Blackwater:

The night of the battle, Sandor Clegane had come to her chambers to take her from the city, but Sansa had refused. Sometimes she lay awake at night, wondering if she'd been wise. She had his stained white cloak hidden in a cedar chest beneath her summer silks. She could not say why she'd kept it. The Hound had turned craven, she heard it said; at the height of the battle, he got so drunk the Imp had to take his men. But Sansa understood. She knew the secret of his burned face. It was only the fire he feared. That night, the wildfire had set the river itself ablaze, and filled the very air with green flame. Even in the castle, Sansa had been afraid. Outside . . . she could scarcely imagine it. -ASOS, Sansa I

Trial by Combat
When Sandor fights Beric we see a flaming sword seemingly begin to defeat the Hound:

The flaming sword leapt up to meet the cold one, long streamers of fire trailing in its wake like the ribbons the Hound had spoken of. Steel rang on steel. No sooner was his first slash blocked than Clegane made another, but this time Lord Beric's shield got in the way, and wood chips flew from the force of the blow. Hard and fast the cuts came, from low and high, from right and left, and each one Dondarrion blocked. The flames swirled about his sword and left red and yellow ghosts to mark its passage. Each move Lord Beric made fanned them and made them burn the brighter, until it seemed as though the lightning lord stood within a cage of fire. "Is it wildfire?" Arya asked Gendry.
"No. This is different. This is . . ." -ASOS, Arya VI

but at the very end we see Sandor somehow win this "holy thing":

Smooth as summer silk, Lord Beric slid close to make an end of the man before him. The Hound gave a rasping scream, raised his sword in both hands and brought it crashing down with all his strength. Lord Beric blocked the cut easily . . .
"Noooooo," Arya shrieked.. . .
but the burning sword snapped in two, and the Hound's cold steel plowed into Lord Beric's flesh where his shoulder joined his neck and clove him clean down to the breastbone. The blood came rushing out in a hot black gush.
Sandor Clegane jerked backward, still burning. He ripped the remnants of his shield off and flung them away with a curse, then rolled in the dirt to smother the fire running along his arm. -ASOS, Arya VI

so he is set free by the Brotherhood, minus his gold (Fun Fact: The Brotherhood ends up with a good amount of gold from the Hand's Tourney).
What's Next?
When the Hound begins to follow them, some members want him dead but Thoros states that there must be some purpose left for Sandor.

Lord Beric shook his head. "Clegane won his life beneath the hollow hill. I will not rob him of it."
"My lord is wise," Thoros told the others. "Brothers, a trial by battle is a holy thing. You heard me ask R'hllor to take a hand, and you saw his fiery finger snap Lord Beric's sword, just as he was about to make an end of it. The Lord of Light is not yet done with Joffrey's Hound, it would seem." -ASOS, Arya VII

and I seem to think that similar to the show, the next step in Sandor's plotline (after Brother Ray (show) and Elder Brother (book series) is another encounter with the Brotherhood without Banners.

• The Brotherhood is likely using his helm to lure others into traps as we could potentially see with Lyle Crakehall. If interested: The (Strong)Boar & the "Hound" and:

"Where is she?"
"A day's ride. I can take you to her, ser … but you will need to come alone. Elsewise, the Hound will kill her." -ADWD, Jaime I

• The Elder brother was the last person to see the Sandor alive as he tells Brienne (they also have his horse). After the Red Wedding, Lady Stoneheart and the BwB were hot on Arya/The Hound's trail before losing them (they find get his helm from Rorge). It is current unknown if Brienne has given this information to the Brotherhood/LSH or not but it definitely ties together the plotline. If interested: Arya Stark: The Key to Jaime/Brienne & Lady Stoneheart

Sandor in Hell
Doesn't really deserve its own section, but I thought this matched up really well:

The septons preach about the seven hells. What do they know? Only a man who's been burned knows what hell is truly like. -AGOT, Sansa II

and:

Lem grabbed her wrist and twisted, wrenching the dagger away. She kicked at him, but he would not give it back. "You go to hell, Hound," she screamed at Sandor Clegane in helpless empty-handed rage. "You just go to hell!"
"He has," said a voice scarce stronger than a whisper. -ASOS, Arya VI

Random Thoughts

• With the identity of "The Hound" shifting from Sandor to Rorge and then Lem, it has created a Legacy Character
• The Hound wanted to sell Arya to Lysa but stopped due to weathebeasts/mountain clans. I am only half joking when I say maybe he would have changed his mind if he knew how much the Burned Men respected fire mutilation. If interested: The Vale Mountain Clans in TWoW
• While not "confirmed" the novice gravedigger on the Quiet Isle is likely Sandor. He is lame. That said the Elder Brother and Thoros are both noted "healers". We have also seen lame characters fight via horseback (ex: The Hedge Knight) although I am not sure this is necessary for his character arc.

Note: Sorry this post is pretty choppy. The new reddit posting interface is pretty terrible to deal with.
TLDR: It is no secret that GRRM has been building up Sandor Clegane (formerly the Hound) and fire from the beginning. With him surviving his fight with a flaming sword (not wildfire) there is some potential "purpose" left for his life (Arya wouldn't end it for him either).

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porch, port, portion, portrait, portray, pose, position, positive, possess, possession, possibility, possible, possibly, post, pot, potato, potential, potentially, pound, pour, poverty, powder, power, powerful, practical, practice, prayer, preach, precisely, predict, prediction, prefer, preference, pregnancy, pregnant, preparation, prepare, prescription, presence, present, presentation, preserve, president, presidential, press, pressure, pretend, pretty, prevent, previous, previously, price, pride, priest, primarily, primary, prime, principal, principle, print, prior, priority, prison, prisoner, privacy, private, probably, problem, procedure, proceed, process, processing, processor, proclaim, produce, producer, product, production, profession, professional, professor, profile, profit, program, progress, progressive, project, prominent, promise, promote, prompt, proof, proper, properly, property, proportion, proposal, propose, prosecutor, prospect, protect, protection, protein, protest, 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satisfy, sauce, save, saving, say, scale, scandal, scare, scatter, scenario, scene, schedule, scheme, scholar, scholarship, school, science, scientific, scientist, scope, score, scream, screen, script, sea, search, season, seat, second, secondary, secret, secretary, section, sector, secure, security, see, seed, seek, seem, segment, seize, select, selection, self, sell, Senate, senator, send, senior, sense, sensitive, sentence, separate, sequence, series, serious, seriously, servant, serve, service, session, set, setting, settle, settlement, seven, several, severe, sex, sexual, shade, shadow, shake, shall, shallow, shape, share, sharp, she, sheet, shelf, shell, shelter, shift, shine, ship, shirt, shock, shoe, shoot, shooting, shop, shopping, short, shortly, shot, should, shoulder, shout, show, shower, shrug, shut, shy, sibling, sick, side, sigh, sight, sign, signal, significant, significantly, silence, silent, silver, similar, similarly, simple, simply, sin, since, sing, singer, single, 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temporary, ten, tend, tendency, tennis, tension, tent, term, terms, terrible, territory, terror, terrorist, test, testimony, testing, text, than, thank, thanks, that, the, theater, their, them, theme, themselves, then, theory, therapy, there, therefore, these, they, thick, thin, thing, think, thinking, third, thirty, this, those, though, thought, thousand, threat, threaten, three, throat, through, throughout, throw, thus, ticket, tie, tight, time, tiny, tip, tire, tissue, title, to, tobacco, today, toe, together, toilet, token, tolerate, tomato, tomorrow, tone, tongue, tonight, too, tool, tooth, top, topic, toss, total, totally, touch, tough, tour, tourist, tournament, toward, towards, tower, town, toy, trace, track, trade, tradition, traditional, traffic, tragedy, trail, train, training, transfer, transform, transformation, transition, translate, translation, transmission, transmit, transport, transportation, travel, treat, treatment, treaty, tree, tremendous, trend, trial, tribe, trick, trip, troop, trouble, truck, true, truly, trust, truth, try, tube, tunnel, turn, TV, twelve, twenty, twice, twin, two, type, typical, typically, ugly, ultimate, ultimately, unable, uncle, undergo, understand, understanding, unfortunately, uniform, union, unique, unit, United, universal, universe, university, unknown, unless, unlike, until, unusual, up, upon, upper, urban, urge, us, use, used, useful, user, usual, usually, utility, utilize, vacation, valley, valuable, value, variable, variation, variety, various, vary, vast, vegetable, vehicle, venture, version, versus, very, vessel, veteran, via, victim, victory, video, view, viewer, village, violate, violation, violence, violent, virtually, virtue, virus, visibility, visible, vision, visit, visitor, visual, vital, voice, volume, voluntary, volunteer, vote, voter, voting, wage, wait, wake, walk, wall, wander, want, war, warm, warn, warning, wash, waste, watch, water, wave, way, we, weak, weakness, wealth, wealthy, weapon, wear, weather, web, website, wedding, week, weekend, weekly, weigh, weight, welcome, welfare, well, west, western, wet, what, whatever, wheel, when, whenever, where, whereas, whether, which, while, whisper, white, who, whole, whom, whose, why, wide, widely, widespread, wife, wild, wildlife, will, willing, win, wind, window, wine, wing, winner, winter, wipe, wire, wisdom, wise, wish, with, withdraw, within, without, witness, woman, wonder, wonderful, wood, wooden, word, work, worker, working, workout, workplace, works, workshop, world, worried, worry, worth, would, wound, wrap, write, writer, writing, wrong, yard, yeah, year, yell, yellow, yes, yesterday, yet, yield, you, young, your, yours, yourself, youth, zone.

With Anthony joining the black jackets in the lounge, he felt like he had fully proven himself after his meltdown to get eliminated in Season 11 and Van was happy for Anthony as he had worked his ass off all season and said the final 6 was a strong ass 6 and it was going to be tough to beat anyone in black jackets but he wasn't letting up now. Nick said somehow despite their being less drama that this had been tougher than all stars as he felt the pressure of being a favourite and Paula said she didn't actually expect to this well having been gone from Hells Kitchen for 16 years but was very proud to show she could still work a line after so many years away. Chef Ramsay welcomed back his black jackets and said to show how proud he was of them all getting this far, he reunited them with their families to give them a boost for the next service and said the reward for the next challenge would be spending time with their family with Nick saying this was the exact boost he needed to kick on in the competition. Ramsay said the next challenge was one of his favourites as it was time for the fusion challenge and Nikki said this was the challenge she was looking forward to as she had become a great fusion chef since season 19 and Paula said she could still remember getting a fusion dish on the menu in Season 5 so it was time to relieve her glory days of Hells Kitchen Season 5.
It was King of the Hill with the chefs taking a seat in the chair until a better dish beat them and was being judged by Chef Curtis Stone who said he was very excited for some amazing fusion. First up was Nick with his fusion of Indian and Spanish which he said wouldn't be his ideal fusion as he presented his cod which Stone said was a strong effort, the only issue being there wasn't enough Indian spice in there but it was a good dish as Nick sat in the chair. Next up was Paula with the fusion of Mexican and Japanese which Paula said would not be her first choice and her pork ended up being a bit muddled with flavours as well as having underseasoned daikon and Nick remained in the chair. Anthony was up next with a fusion of France and Thai, and unfortunately his hanger steak was overcooked as well as Stone describing it as a Thai dish with some asparagus lumped in there to make it French as Nick remained in the chair. Kanae was up next with a fusion of Thai and Spanish, and her salmon was praised as being almost perfect and the dish of the day so far as Kanae took a place in the chair to dethrone Nick and Kanae claimed the reign of Queen Kanae was beginning. Van was next with Chinese and Mexican and he also had a superb effort with his snapper with Stone saying the levels had gone up but said Kanae's dish just had the edge! Nikki was up last with French and Indian, and her duck was cooked perfectly as well as combining both cuisines superbly to give Nikki the throne and the victory!
Nikki said to not only get the 2nd black jacket but win the 1st black jacket challenge showed she was here for business this time round and she got to enjoy a lunch and day out with her family while it was ice delivery day for the other 5 black jackets and Anthony said he still thinks about when he overloaded Hells Kitchen with ice. The Chefs had no dinner service tonight so came back the next day refreshed and Chef Ramsay said there was a big challenge coming up in tonights dinner service as the chefs would be facing off against another team of all stars! Out came the first all star who was Season 21 winner Alex Belew and Alex was pumped to take on a team of new all stars and Anthony knew what was up, it was gonna be winners returning. Out came Season 19 winner Kori, Season 17 winner Michelle, Season 18 winner Ariel, Season 20 winner Trenton and Season 12 winner Scott Commings, and Van said this was serious game time tonight as if the all stars could beat a team of winners, it showed Chef Ramsay they had the best black jacket squad of all time. It was noted by Nick that when Scott and Trenton came out, Scott shook everyones hand but Trenton said he'd rather not as it was a competition and Nick said that gave him even more motivation to win tonight and maybe he might be finally able to beat Michelle in a season. Chef Ramsay said both teams could add 2 appetizers and 2 entrees to tonights menu and the black jackets added a tortellini and a tuna tartare appetizer as well as a NY strip and pork entree. The returning winners were less cohesive in picking a menu as Michelle and Trenton disgareed on the entrees and Ariel said it didn't matter what went on the menu as long as they all agreed as they got a shrimp pasta, a squid salad as well as a veal and fillet entree.
The returning winners had Ariel and Kori on appetizers and Kori did admit to being a little nervous to come back as she didn't want to tank on her return on Hells Kitchen but her and Ariel's first risottos and pastas came out perfect and with Michelle serving perfect scallops, Kori said it was just like riding a bike. Ariel continued to have a great service but Kori ended up 2 minutes behind on pasta somehow, and Ariel expected a bit better from Kori than struggling on such a simple dish but Kori did finally complete the ticket as the winners finished appetizers in quick fashion. Scott was happy to be on the garnish station and was extremely vocal as usual with Michelle on fish, and Alex and Trenton on the meat station getting the first 6 top out despite Trenton complaining that Scott doesn't need to count down every 10 seconds as they know what they're doing. Michelle had a strong service on fish but ended up ignoring Alex and Trenton's cry to wait as their steaks and lamb weren't ready to serve her snapper. Alex and Trenton did catch up eventually as the winners continued to serve nice entrees going into the last few tables. Despite claiming he was the prince,of steak, Trenton served an overcooked NY Strip and then served a rare strip on the refire and Alex didn't know how Trenton managed to mess up twice on his own dish. With Alex's help, Trenton got organized and the returning winners completed a strong service with Scott noting that was the easiest service he's had in Hells Kitchen.
Nick and Kanae were on appetizers for the black jackets and Kanae was confident of beating the winners as half of them are probably in their 60s by now and her and Nick worked very well together to serve delicious risottos and carbonara. Anthony on fish ended up dragging on lobster as he hadn't dropped it early enough and Ramsay said we should never wait for lobster as Anthony bounced back to finish the ticket. Nick and Kanae continued to have great services as the black jackets finished appetizers ahead of the winners and Van on garnish was pumped to have his best service yet to lead his team to victory. Nikki and Paula on meat served perfect fillets and duck, and the black jackets finished the first half of entrees in great fashion with Anthony serving nice salmon. Van though started dragging on mashed potato and was unresponsive to Chef Ramsay on a time on mashed potato as Van finally caught up with Paula and Nikki. Nikki continued to have a great service but Paula got behind a minute on lamb and was struggling to stay organized as she had 1 duck ready and 1 not before she finally caught up again, and Ramsay said the bounce backs had been strong all night and to keep it up. Anthony though on a late ticket, realized the skin had fallen off his salmon and had to refire and him and Van's timing went completely off as Anthony served raw salmon and Van mushy cauliflower! Anthony and Van did fight back and the black jackets completed a relatively good service.
Chef Ramsay announced that while 92% of the diners in the red kitchen were happy, the winners had 98% satisfied so the returning winners won and Nick said he still can't beat Michelle. The black jackets had to come up with 2 for elimination and both Kanae and Nick said Van was the first nomination for his issues on garnish but Van said he was by himself and everyone on garnish gets in the weeds at least once and was nominating Anthony and Paula as there was 2 on meat and still issues. Paula said it wasn't her best service but Anthony was the main issue and the team did finally decide on Van and Anthony as the 2 nominees. Despite Anthony pleading for one more chance after his first bad service, Ramsay eliminated ANTHONY for losing control of his station but told him to keep his jacket for being a force all season and said he was happy he invited him back. Van was relieved to survive after his first bad service but tomorrow he was coming back with a vengeance and Nikki said she'd had a couple of great days and was gonna keep it up for the rest of the season to win the whole thing.
Vote HERE for the next 2 chefs to be eliminated!
https://strawpoll.com/GeZAOELbbnV
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lZdCZ5yphKY-xzgCoYI23gLu5dxegS4eB5BC-Slk9ac/edit#gid=0

Hello Apes.
Long time holder and sleeper over the last few years, just quietly holding and buying after believing in the DD of previous much more intelligent apes than I, no more so than the absolute chad who kicked this all off, DFV.
Although I should be working right now, I wanted to round up all of the tweets from yesterday and understand the messages behind what was being tweeted. It seems to me that although DFV has to be cryptic with his memes, he has had so long to line this up that there must be intentional messaging behind the tweets too.
This is pure speculation on my part and i've tried to go through the original tweet posts on here and pick up on anything in the comments that others might have picked up on.
11am - https://x.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790034263603139012
Description: I'm not a massive Marvel watcher so maybe people can help me expand but the Thanos scene is taken from the ending credits of Scene of Age of Ultron where he has the infinity gauntlet in his hand saying "Fine, Ill do it myself" and the Wolverine scene is taken from X-Men origins where Wolverine is brought back to life and in remembering previous life events, went into a full on rage taking out everybody.
Speculation: The first tweet of the market day and a real statement of intent from DFV. Announcing to the world that he is truly back and he is still in. Lots of speculation about whether he would post a YOLO after hours (he did not) but certainly a statement of intent.
11.30am - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790041813379850491
Description: First part is the final scene of Ferris Bueller's Day Off I believe after the credits roll breaking the 3rd wall to ask why you are still here. Next we have Breaking Bad and this is where Saul wants out of the operation as it's becoming high risk but Walter tells him that they are done when he says they are done. Then we have a cat waking from a slumber with the Radiohead song Exit Music (for a film) playing and finally we have the beginning piano music to 'Light of the Seven' from Game of Thrones.
Speculation: I believe the first part is a joke that a lot of people have probably asked you over the years and will certainly ask you over the coming days, "oh are you still holding that GME stock?", "why are you still doing that?" but it could also be directed towards DFV as well from SHFs, why are you still here? (what's an exit strategy huh?). The Breaking Bad reference is an excellent rebuttal to that, "we're done, when i say we're done" (SHF's are fk). The Cat waking slowly can describe DFV slowly waking from his slumber, remember his last tweet to sign off years ago of a Cat going to sleep? The song has some interesting lyrics which i won't post in full but you can see for yourself here Here. Just to pick a few lines out; "Today we escape", "Breathe, keep breathing, Don't lose your nerve", "I can't do this alone". The final part is probably my favorite scene from GoT, Cersei's plan comes to full fruition with sweet revenge when she blows up the temple of a cult that had embarassed her beforehand and threatened her rule. She makes them pay with a giant green explosion so take from that what you will. If you want to check out the scene you can find it here.
12pm - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790049362846117942
Description: First we have V for Vendetta with "first the overture". Next we have a person driving in reverse from Ready Player One and then we have another scene from GoT where Daenerys (The Mother of Dragons) is facing confrontation from a murderous clan who are fighting against her claim over their city and her dragon waking up.
Speculation: The overture is an orchestral piece at the beginning of an opera and generally means an introduction to something more substantial, no need to expand further on that. I haven't seen Ready Player One but from looking at comments in other posts: The Ready Player One scene, he wins the race by beating the system. The GoT scene was the waking up Drogon to come to the aid of The Mother of Dragons while a group attempted to assassinate her, all looked lost until Drogon rode in to save the day. I tried to find the episode the check back but I'm pretty sure the actual dragon waking up scene is taken from an episode further into GME where the Dragon originally has blue eyes so I think that clip has been changed to include red eyes (GME red button anyone?)
Edit\* As pointed out in the comments by MrsDuckyJonez, "He did another Ready Player One scene years ago and it was the scene right before this one. It was really important because she tells him that he saw something that no one else saw- that in order to win (beat the system) he had to go backwards instead of racing for the finish line. The speculation back then when he posted it was that going back and looking at puts/calls was evidence that hedgies are fukd".\*
12:30pm - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790056912664601031
Description: Firstly, this is taken from Gangs of New York where Amsterdam's father is giving his son a shaving knife and stating "the blood stays on the blade" building up to a confrontation with Bill where he will eventually kill him with it. Then we go to the scene just before that happens but everyone has their faces painted in green. Finally we have the music video for Ludacris - Stand Up.
Speculation: I haven't seen Gangs of New York but from doing some research online about the significance of the hunting blade i came across this:

The shaving knife is symbolic.
"The blood stays on the blade" can be interpreted as "you can't wash away your sins."
One of the major themes of the film is that history repeats itself if we don't learn from its lessons.

Seems like a pretty simple message that SHFs haven't learnt their lessons and history is repeating itself right now, sign of things to come perhaps? Then we have Stand up, DFV having some fun here but the lyrics again have some interesting lines, "Watch out for the medallion, my diamonds are reckless", "What's wrong? The club and the moon is full", "One sure shot way to get 'em outta them pants". You can find the full lyrics Here
1pm - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790064464357724451
Description: Some car scenes here: Firstly we have a car driving off into the sunset taken from the Wiz Khalifa - See you Again music video (part of the Furious 7 soundtrack), then we have a car chase with a car pulling off a highway (not sure where this is from or if its a highway (i'm a UK ape) and finally we have another car chase but this one the driver has beaten the police cars and is pulling up.
Speculation: I like the take from u/ tajwriggly here where it could be that DFV is saying everyone thought he was driving off into the sunset for the life of ease... and who could blame him if he was? But no... he's right off the path and in the thick of things with the rest of us. I think all 3 scenes put together tell a short story, DFV seemingly riding off, then DFV giving it the big turn in a big chase and then DFV giving it the slip in his zen like state.
1.30pm - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790072011810812231
Description: First scene shows a woman on the verge of being beheaded before being spared at the last minute then we cut to a scene with 'Ain't no mountain high enough' coming in then finally Florence & the Machine with Dog Days Are Over.
Speculation: GME is going to run, there ain't no mountain high enough that's going to stop what this can reach and the DOG days are over, it's the days of the cat now.
2:00pm - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790079562866360327
Description: A beautiful cut scene of the avengers initiative charging as a team to save the world. All kinds of superheroes big and small.
Speculation: Whilst we are all individual investors we all do share in one common interest, we love the stock. There could be a case here for basket theory but I won't speculate on that further as I'm personally only interested in one stock but take from that what you will.
2:30pm - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790087112282239085
Description: The first scene is taken from the final duel in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly only some crowd cheering has been dubbed into the background. Then we have Thor coming down hard to smash everyone.
Speculation: There is a nervy standoff happening maybe between different short positions, who is going to blink first and close up knowing that making a move means bloodshed only...it doesn't matter because they are all going to get absolutely smashed anyway by the supreme hammer of Thor.
3:00pm - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790094668237259040
Description: First scene, "make no mistake it's not revenge he is after it's a reckoning", then we have a shotgun wielding man "you tell him i'm coming, and hells coming with me you hear?" and finally we have Narco with some baddass horse riders taking shots.
Speculation: As u/ strikeeagle points out, the Narco trumpets are synonymous with Mets fans as they bring in Edwin Diaz "Narco" to close up, usually when it's "Game over" for the opposing team. The reckoning is coming! Oh and Steve Cohen owns the Mets of course, trading is a tough game don't ya think?
3:30pm - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790102212619669909
Description: Pirates of the Caribbean scene where Captain Barbossa asks what has become of his precious and infamous ship, The Black Pearl. Then we have Men in Black where they press the red button and jet off.
Speculation: The captain is back to take back the ship and he is pressing the red button to send this into the stratosphere.
4:00pm - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790109766389477525
Description: Peeky blinders, Tommy Shelby, leader of the Shelby crew is prepping his family to be on their best behaviour just before they fleece a load of the elite at the races then we have another Peeky Blinders scene in which Tommy has another plan up his sleeve but in the end keeps it simple to achieve their goals for revenge.
Speculation: DFV has a plan and all that is required from GME loving people is just to keep your plums in order and enjoy the ride, don't make it more complicated than it needs to be, everything is already happening.
Edit: Sorry i missed one (i was in bed by this time 1am in UK)
8pm: - https://twitter.com/TheRoaringKitty/status/1790170162265460831
Description: The scene from Snatch where the Gypsy takes revenge on the gang that killed his mother after a continuing conflict throughout the film by taking to them with shotguns then we have the music video of BANG! by AJR and finally the Glengarry Glen Ross speech by Alec Baldwin with "oh, have i got your attention now?"
Speculation: Along the common theme here, Snatch is showing a big revenge with lots of shots fired and this is continued with lots more BANGS directed from Roaring Kitty. Finally the most interesting part of the video in my opinion, quoting the Glengarry Glen Ross Speech, I recommend you give it watch here but if you don't have time, ABC (ALWAYS BE CLOSING), YOU CLOSE OR YOU HIT THE BRICKS. Full scene here.
Let me know if you have anything to add below and hope you found this helpful. I really should do some work now.
Buy - Hodl - DRS
Love ya DFV x

Day 0!
5/13, total lap, took uterus, cervix, tubes, and did a bladder check. Edit: both ovaries intact.
I checked in about 840, surgery about 1040. One final pregnancy test. The staff was amazing (except the anaesthesiologist was a bit of a dick to one of the nurses, I didn’t like that-I think I might be reporting that… but he was fine to me). Even my gyno who I wasn’t a fan of during our appointments, I could tell surgery is where she was meant to be. I met my OR nurse, anaesthesiologist, and my gyno/surgeon in pre-op where every single person (plus surgical day care nurse) went over everything with me again and again, and ensured I was comfortable with what we were planning to do, and confirmed that barring any issues, my catheter would be removed during surgery, and then a camera check up the urethra and into the bladder. There was a slight hiccup in something in the lab with my pre op blood work where they listed me as a c section (ABSOLUTELY NOT) and something in the test regarding transfusion expired within 3 days and I did my pre op Thursday. I was worried it was going to delay things but since I have been fortunate and never had a transfusion (and the surgeon believed me and didn’t want her day messed up, plus they had the Thursday results) they called the lab, they were there super quick, and it was drawn up then I was wheeled in to the OR. Once in the OR they had me transfer onto the table, got me situated, introduced the surgical team, and my surgeon went over everything one last time while I was still conscious and made sure everyone was on the same page and ready to go. I was given oxygen and told to take a few deep breaths, and then they started pumping meds into my IV and I was out.
From what I hear (my surgeon called my mom/pickup person) it all went like clockwork. I was out in under two hours, into recovery to wake up and when I came to, three nurses (or health care workers, whatever their role, but I think RNs) were chatting about me near my bedside on how I had a lack of requirements before I could be discharged. I don’t think they realised or expected me to be awake so quickly but I said I had been told that as soon as I could walk to the bathroom and pee on my own, I could leave. They looked a little shocked. Not sure if because I was awake or because I knew what I needed to do.
I did say in recovery to my nurse that I felt like I needed to pee, but they wanted me to wait until the hour was up in recovery and I was transferred back to surgical day care.
Once I was in day care I was given juice, digestive cookies and my phone and started texting my mom, who was right outside, and said I was back to where she could come see me. The person at the desk at the front tried not to let her in and said I wasn’t back yet (not sure if there was a lack of communication or no) but mom insisted I was texting her and telling her I was back, and the woman from the desk had to come in and check for herself that I was back… and asked my nurse-who was again nearby-and I heard the front desk woman muttering and said something about “her mom”. I piped up and said don’t try to stop her from coming in, she won’t go away and she would get in either way, I’m texting with her now. The woman didn’t like that much, but my nurse laughed and okay’d her coming in.
Nurse back in day care listened to me pretty quick, did her checks and made she I could sit/stand and disconnected my IV line. She walked me to the bathroom to make sure I was okay. I peed without issue-it was a bit tender coming out but no burning… but man. Maybe bring your own toilet paper. That rough stuff is even rougher when you’re sensitive😳
I felt immediately better cause now I knew they could let me out once my final hour in recovery was complete. Another glass of juice, some more post op checks done, and I was able to get my IV out. (I know most people wouldn’t like IVs but it was a huge hang up for me… my veins suck and it was tender and once they confirmed I could leave I wanted it GONE.
Passed the rest of the time chatting, going over discharge paperwork/instructions, then I was given the official go ahead to change and leave. Slow going, changing, and man the hospital pads are atrocious (and no wings?!). I peed once more, hating the toilet paper but loved the mesh ish shorts they gave me and asked for a couple more, and they gave me two or three more. I was allowed to leave just after 230pm.
I was able to walk out of the hospital on my own two feet. Slowly, but walking and being upright felt much better than sitting. The nurse said it was allowed as long as mom was right there (which she obviously was) in case I got dizzy. We walked out to the front entrance (elevator, no stairs of course), and I stood at a safe spot where I could sit if I needed to, while she went and got the car from the far side of the lot. I probably could have walked it, but it was slow and didn’t want to chance anything.
The ride home was a bit rough-I forgot my pillow and I think that would have helped. Held my hands/palms onto my lower belly for some support. It was manageable, I wasn’t crying out in pain or anything, but definitely internally felt every little bump despite mom trying her best to avoid them.
I’m staying in my own apartment, (parent’s offered me to stay at theirs but I’m far more comfy in my own place, and no stairs) my dad’s sleeping on the couch while my pup is at the house with my mom and their two dogs. So far I’ve been able to manage on my own but it’s nice knowing he’s here incase I need something. When I got home, much to my dad’s chagrin (he wanted to do it for me), I made myself buttered toast, had an ice cream sandwich, some arrowroot cookies, a Tylenol and after eating upright and walking in circles a bit, I went to my bed with my heating pad, pregnancy pillow and about 8462619 other pillows I adjusted as needed. I’m very happy I had a pregnancy pillow. I was debating getting the wedges but decided with the option of Amazon same day/next day delivery, if I changed my mind it wouldn’t be long without it.
Obviously there’s more internal room now, but a heads up-I’ve peed a few times since getting home (it’s near 1am) I have noticed that “hmm I need to pee” turns quickly into “YUP GOTTA GO” when I stand up. I think that little bit extra gravity assist hits when I stand. No burning, still just a bit sensitive, but I bought a peri care bottle with a nozzle on it and is it a game changer. The hospital gave me one but it didn’t have an angled nozzle, which to me is useless unless I want to climb in my shower every time or end up with water all over my floor. First time I used it, I just rinsed with cool water multiple times as it was soothing (not going into the vagina).
There’s been very little blood so far-some spotting but not much.
The pain? Feels like a concentrated day 2 of my usual bad periods, with low back pain (helped greatly with heating pad). Like most of us here… we’re used to heavy pain so it’s not all that unbearable.
I was given tramadol, and didn’t take my first one until 9pm. Didn’t love the feeling. And my limbs started tingling which was weird. That’s supposed to be a withdrawal effect. But my body doesn’t handle drugs well so could just be me. I’ll see what happens later in the night if I need something else, I’ll take it. But so far the pain/discomfort is reminding me not to sleep how i normally do-on my side with my leg up toward my abdomen.
I’ve got my naproxen and Tylenol that the pharmacy okay’d me to take instead of Advil and Tylenol.
Forgot to mention-my throat is a bit sore, but not nearly what I expected. Feels like I just spent some time around a campfire where the smoke randomly followed me. One Halls seemed to help, and of course, ice cream sandwiches 😂.
And now to wait for meeting the real me after 20+ years of being on oral birth control… should be some definite hormonal swings during recovery plus that, but can’t wait😂🤦🏻‍♀️
Edit: one thing I did that I haven’t seen posted otherwise in this subreddit is that I put a cooling cloth, soaked in water, in a ziplock bag, and stuck it laying down flat in my freezer before surgery. I don’t think I really needed to, but I had that laying (with clothing on and a tea towel wrapped around it) on my lower belly and it molded perfectly as it melted a tad, and felt great. I wasn’t told not to ice it, I wasn’t told to ice it, but I figure as long as it feels good, it’s not damaging anything or getting anything wet. Might be something for others to consider! I wouldn’t want the weight of a large ice pack or anything on me right now, but just that in the ziplock with a light pillow overtop was perfect.

Reddit Account: u/Thenn_Applicant
Discord Tag: Garin
Name and House: Dorian Merryweather
Age: 49
Cultural Group: Reachman
Appearance: Dorian's chestnut brown hair has been greying for quite a while, however is short beard retains more color, including a few stray red hairs peppered throughout it. While his features have softened and gained some pudge as he aged past his prime, he remains in overall good shape. This is partly due to his great love of gardening and crop cultivation, which have left his hands and nails rather rough.
Trait: Numerate
Skills: Avaricious (e), Architect, Administrator, Investor
Talents: Language (High Valyrian) Cooking, Gardening
Negative Trait: N/A
Starting Title: Lord of Longtable
Starting Location: Opening Event
Biography:
It has been said; men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing, sooner than war. As such, it begs the question, what does a man have left when he finally tires of war? In pursuit of an answer, of any answer, one half of Dorian Merryweather’s life was spent. He was the second son of Lord Arthor Merryweather of Longtable. Like many others born in a place of natural abundance, he longed for more, for something greater than a mere provincial estate. The tourneys of Highgarden, the hunts of Horn Hill and the books of Oldtown all called to him, and so he could never ride past his father’s mild and verdant fields fast enough. Dorian counted himself lucky not to be the heir, for that meant he could pick where his future lay, unchained from the uninspiring home of his childhood. Instead it was his older brother, Bennard, who envied his free-flying lifestyle, contriving any excuse to join him on his escapades and agurk lessons and ceremonies he ought to have attended.
Lord Arthor was fairly permissive of this deriliction of duties, as the friendships forced on such journeys were worth more than lessons that could be repeated later, or tasks that could be handed off to lowborn stewards. The boys attended tourneys, balls, hunts and feasts, living the life the bards extolled as the height of reachman’s chivalry. The one time they did not shirk their duties was when their father had the honor of hosting King Mern and his court for a tourney on the Warrior’s day. The Merryweather sons would present the king and his family with silver bowls of dilligrout, a most exquisite stew of capons, white wine and almond milk. They had the joy of tasting it once the Gardeners had their fill, a taste they would never forget. On the tournament field three days later, Mern knighted them both, though Dorian was only sixteen at the time, green as a knight could ever be.
Five years later, as news of Aegon Targaryen and his early conquests spread, the lords of the Reach were summoned to Goldengrove, where they found a veritable forest of Westermen’s banners being planted beside their own. The fall of the Storm Kings had led to a whirlwind of diplomacy between the houses of Gardener and Lannister. The plan was presented to the lords with the two kings sitting beside one another on the dais as though they were brothers. They held up Aegon’s letter of demands, scornfully reading it aloud and then proceeded to tear it up to a roaring acclamation from the hall. Standing there before the hall, Mern could hardly be called the Warrior incarnate. There stood a man well past his prime, old enough to be a grandfather and with no great victories to his name, in battle or on the tourney field. All the same, this man, whom they called their king, always seemed to know exactly what to say to win someone over. If he’d declared war on hell itself that evening, the Merryweather brothers would probably still have marched off with him when the next morning dawned. Bennard and Dorian shouted as loud as anyone, death to the foreign upstart. That evening were betrothed to westerwomen they’d never met before, made plans for a real battle, which they had never fought in before, and drank, ate and sang as though the night would last forever. House Merryweather was not able to secure a command, yet King Mern remembered his stay at Longtable fondly. He gave Bennard and Dorian a place in the vanguard, and even adorned Bennard with a brooch of the order of the green hand the morning before the army Goldengrove, a momentous honor which Bennard would cherish for the remainder of his days. He did not have many left, as it turned out. The Field of Fire began like a dream, as the two brothers rode off at the break of dawn, two out of five thousand sets of gleaming armor atop proud warhorses. By the end of the day it had become a nightmare. Caught up in the maelstrom of battle, Dorian did not see the moment when their loss was assured, but the Gods know he could hear it, the creeping, hungry flames that descended on the reachmen like an army of its own. As hundreds were broiled inside their steel plate and thousands more choked on the inferno’s horrible vanguard of black smoke, Bennard and Dorian broke and fled. They were not far behind the retreating Loren Lannister in their escape, but half a minute made all the difference. The lines of fire fanned out, hunting more living things to devour, and engulfed the two brothers. Dorian could feel how the flames spread from his surcoat to his undershirt, all the way down to the hairs on his chest, beginning to sear his skin. In a desperate act he threw himself in the Blackwater, and would have perished if not for the shoddy work of his squire that morning, which left him able to tear off his plate before he could sink. With bloodied, burn-marked fingers, he clung to the roots of a tree by the riverside, water up to his chest. He was retrieved after some time, how long he could not say. For the next two moons his mind was adrift, distracted from his pains by milk of the poppy. The next two were far worse, as he grew more lucid and realized the extent of the damage. A burn-mark stretched from his right thigh, all the way up his chest and left bicep to the apple of his neck. Many times over, flakes of dead or dying skin had to be peeled off by the maester as the scabs kept bursting with blood and clear liquid. By the end of that year he was able to walk again, though the burn mark would leave a feverish red mark across the front of his body, his new skin settling into twisted lines.
Bennard was far worse for wear, alive yet burned all the way to his face and crippled from a fall off his horse. His nose and ear-lobes had to be cut off, too burned to save, and even his eyelids were permanently scarred, unable to sprout new lashes. The more lucid Bennard became, the deeper his sorrow. Eventually he began refusing food. The new lord of Longtable would not eat anything his cooks set in front of him. In spite of his ever present pains, Dorian began going to the kitchens, reprimanding the cooks for their failings. He knew his brother well and knew his palette, and began ordering them to make his brother’s favorites. When he felt they were making mistakes, he interrupted their work himself. He was a stranger to the kitchen, yet would criticize how things were cut too roughly, spiced too little or too much. He was a terror to the cooks, yet they could not refuse him.
His attempts to intervene were however hampered by a newfound aversion to heat. The sound of the hearth, of boiling and searing, the general sense of warmth around him made him nauseous and caused his movements to seize up. Still, he went to his brother’s bedside every day, and afterwards he forced himself back to the kitchens. His sister, Lydia, tried to stop him at first, but soon found her protes fell on deaf ears, and so joined him, if only to leash him in when he went too far. Finally, there was only one dish they hadn’t tried; the dilligrout they’d once served to the late King Mern. Every time it was made, it came out wrong. It soon turned out the cook who had served them that evening six years ago had since retired, and his exact method had never been recorded or taught to anyone else. Dorian would first invite the man to Longtable, then summon him with armed knights when invitations were refused.
Theomar, the man who appeared before him, was a sorry sight, looking frightened and confused as he was taken to his old workplace. It was explained by his sons that he’d been growing senile even six years ago, often snapping at the kitchen maids under him when his memory failed him. Since then he’d gotten worse, seldom eating, let alone cooking. Something in the old man’s eyes did seem to brighten for a moment when the sounds and smells of his old kitchen surrounded him, and Dorian ordered him to make dilligrout. Before long that faint spark had been drowned out by tears. He would start boiling capon or crushing almonds, only to leave the job half-done whenever he had to fetch something new. Serving maids were put at his disposal to bring him ingredients, yet an ingredient ordered would be met with a reprimand as he seemed to forget which dish he was making every few minutes. Finally Dorian snapped at the man, grabbing him by his collar and shouting accusations of treason against House Merryweather. By the time Lydia could restrain him and try to apologize, the man was a wreck on the floor. After watching it for a while, waiting for the man to get up and continue his work, even Dorian was overcome by pity and shame for what he’d done. The old cook was praying to the gods, begging forgiveness for his failings. Dorian began to realize he’d broken a great man down and would himself beg forgiveness. He offered the man his old cook’s quarters back for the rest of his life, and promised his sons that his maester would tend to the man in his old age, that he would be fed from Longtable’s stores.
At this point, he resolved to make the dilligrout himself. Through it all, Bennard was barely clinging to life, or rather being tethered to it by the will of others. He could only be fed when drugged down by the milk of the poppy, and the more often it was used, the less effective it became. Every day Dorian braved the kitchens, yet he could not recreate the flavor of that wonderful night. It was by the grace of the gods, perhaps with Theomar as their vessel, that Dorian would even come close. The old man could no longer cook, but over time he began to wander into the kitchens and sit down on a chair. At first Dorian thought the man only sought the warmth of the hearth for his weary bones, yet he discovered it to be more than that. Theomar’s eyes were like clouded glass, yet they brightened every now and then, hearing almonds being ground, smelling capons searing in fat, as though it was stirring the kitchenmaster of yore back to life. Eventually Dorian began to walk up to the old cook with his ingredients, bidding him to smell or taste small portions. Sometimes he got simple instructions out of it, ‘too coarse’, ‘too sour’, ‘underdone’. Som times a mere nod or frown was all Theomar managed. Over the course of a couple of days, Dorian put together one final attempt to get the dish made rightWhen he arrived in Bennard’s chamber, he was met with a look which brought forth discomfort that no flame could produce in Dorian. Plainly, raspingly, his brother asked him why he wouldn’t let him die. It was easy, Bennard reasoned. All Dorian needed to do was wait and become lord. The words almost made Dorian throw the dilligrout on the floor. Almost. He placed two bowls on Bennard’s table, the dilligrout and one brimming with milk of the poppy. Dorian told his brother to make his choice. If he sought death, Dorian would let him, but he would not hear that it was an easy thing, watching his brother die. That evening, the milk of the poppy was carried away by the maester, the empty bowl of stew taken to be washed in the kitchens. From then on, Bennard ate what his brother brought him without complaint. He lasted just into the new year, dying on its tenth day. In the predawn gloom of the twelfth, Theomar died in his sleep
Dorian took up his lordly task joylessly. His old wanderlust returned, spurred by the horrible memories that now stained Longtable and the reach itself in his mind. The final straw came when their new Tyrell overlords, insisted on him marrying a lady from a dornish house. His previous betrothal had fallen through, as the parents of his western bride had not wished to draw the ire of the Targaryens by maintaining an old alliance meant to oppose them. Instead of obliging, he boarded a ship from Oldtown going east. It stopped only briefly in Planky Town before going to Tyrosh. Noting him to be a nobleman, a few of the city’s wealthy men would host him for a while, though they quickly lost interest when his lack of knowledge of trade became apparent. After that, he spent time in the markets and squares where the common people lived. His old curiosity was piqued, and he decided to embark on a quest of learning, fashioning himself another Lomas Longstrider. He moved on to Myr, and the experience was much the same in broad strokes, a few rich men showed interest and quickly lost it. As he’d visited the dye markets he went to see the city’s famous artisans at work. One thing was notably different, he met a Tyroshi woman with green-dyed hair, going by the name Maryah. She was a trader, and the two had taken the same ship to Myr. She had been to Myr before and showed him many of its secrets. They spent an entire day in one of the vast delicacy markets so she could show him the many tastes of the city. Having no plans in advance, he asked where she was headed next.
Without a second thought he would join her on a journey to Lys. He soon understood it to be a test. It was not long before she teased him, speculating he’d only joined her for a chance to see the famous pleasure houses. Evening after evening they stayed in the city and Maryah would tease and test him over the matter. Finally he told her he’d renounce his betrothal for her, that there was no one else in his eye. She laughed, replying he would not have to. The next morning, Dorian awoke to find that she was already up, the green washed from her black curls. Maryah had in fact been Joanna Dayne, his dornish bride to be, having traveled the same route as him ever since his ship stopped at Planky Town to refill its food and water. She was already quite familiar with the three closest free cities, having served as a dornish envoy on behalf of its spice traders. As they planned their return to Westeros, Joanna asked him what else in the world he wanted to see. Within a few moons of being wed, they left Westeros, not to return for three years.The journey was what his mind needed, away from the Reach, its knights and tapestries, hunts and tourneys. Ultimately, the lords and knights of his homeland, for all their songs and poetry, lived every day in preparation for war, frivolous though the preparations were. Joanna showed him a different world, the remnants of Old Valyria. War was to be sure inescapable. Wherever they went, there were soldiers, tapestries, contests of arms, and yet the cities housed something else as well, a boundless potential for creation, commerce and growth.
Thanks to Joanna Dayne’s knowledge their stays became far better planned, and they could enjoy the hospitality of wealthy locals far longer. She knew how to talk about the spice trade and similar matters, and Dorian began to pick up on it. On their second stay in Myr, he procured a great deal of fine parchment and began taking notes, everything from negotiation tactics and the prices of cloves or red peppers to court customs, as well as more eclectic pieces of knowledge, details of running an eastern estate, descriptions of technological marvels he had never seen in Westeros, and ingredients in the local food. By the time they neared Qarth he had quite the list of recipes, among other things. There he was even able to learn a few all the way from Yi Ti, as some local cooks catered to merchants from the Golden Empire. On their journey home they’d end up taking the opportunity to see the newly made port of King’s Landing. By that time, a third member had joined their journey, their infant daughter Florys. Having left Longtable in the care of his sister and steward for three years, Dorian finally accepted the responsibility of running his ancestral home.
Longtable was considered to rule over some of the best lands in the Reach, ideally situated along the river with abundant soil which could provide two grain harvests in a year. Having seen the estates which supplied the great cities of the east, Dorian was all too aware of its comparative shortcomings. He found that the abundance of the land had a counterproductive effect, breeding complacency and carelessness. From his grandiose tour of the east, he went on a painstaking tour of his own lands, trying to get an overview of everything he ruled over. He paid the citadel a fee to send him half a dozen maesters in training for a season. These young men, literate and numerate, would serve his own maester in conducting a survey of the land, giving Dorian account of all resources at his disposal as lord. The results were quite varied.
Some peasants were found to have remarkable agricultural insights which they had no way of writing down, entirely reliant on passing the knowledge to their children. Knowing the risks of such a method of transferring knowledge, Dorian ordered such insights recorded. In other places there were farmers and communities who were unwittingly exhausting their soil. Instances of lack of fallow land, excessive grazing by cows and lack of crop rotation were also made note of, followed by edicts against such heedless practices. Septons, sheriffs and tax collectors were given written copies and were obliged to read them to the peasantry wherever it was deemed necessary. It also became part of the obligations of farmers to plant a set amount of clover in their fields and pastures, a practice some had taken up on their own but which had already become a standardized law among the estates belonging to Myr and Volantis. Irrigation was expanded and land inheritance was reformed to prevent the splitting of fields past a certain threshold.
Lord Dorian was not always successful. Some eastern ideas had been useful innovations which improved conditions across the board. In time he learned that the peculiarities of the westerosi system were sometimes necessary for the sake of stability, not merely the misshapen fruits of ignorance. His attempt to enclose part of the common lands proved abortive, as it nearly caused a peasant rebellion. A procession of aggrieved smallfolk headed for Longtable had to be dispersed by knights, armed with wooden clubs to prevent needless bloodshed.Two men were hanged and five sent to the wall, but the reform was thereafter abandoned, leading the populace to calm down. Dorian was not much of a military leader and had not wielded weapons since the Field of Fire. He became aware of his need to bolster his forces, a notion reinforced by the establishment of the Black Roses not long after his return, and again with the Kingswood Catastrophe
In the meantime, he and Joanna raised a family together. Three more daughters would be born healthy, with a couple of miscarriages and a stillbirth in between, also a daughter. Their travels did not entirely come to an end. In 13 AC they would tour the northern free cities of Norvos, Qohor, Pentos, Braavos and Lorath, which they had missed on their original journey. The lion’s share of 17 AC was spent on a journey to the Summer Islands. At other times they would make shorter journeys around the Seven Kingdoms, where they felt more secure in bringing their older children along. Whether it was visiting Joanna’s family in Dorne, tourneys and feasts in the Reach and West or even one trip to see the wall, a nameday wish by Florys, they were often on the move. Like most of their peers, they frequented Oldtown and Highgarden
The growing rift between the two queens and their children was a situation Dorian would watch with dread in his heart, remembering keenly how a generation of young men had been brought to the field of fire. To his mind, the Targaryen rule ought not go to waste. Like Valyria of old, it had begun with fire and blood, yet similarly peace and prosperity had followed in its wake. If only the dragons could stand united, perhaps another long peace like the one the Freehold once enjoyed could again be established. If not, another century of blood was upon them. Under Dorian, Longtable became a place where he sought to bring together people from across the kingdoms and forge unity over the dinner table, an attitude which somewhat vexed and confounded his more militaristic daughter and heiress, Lady Florys. Even amid her questioning of the viability of his peaceful ways when surrounded by those who would make war, a terrible sight would steel his resolve, watching the Mander burning green, every bit as terrible as the flames from twenty one years prior. That night he made a simple vow, never again.
The League of the Cornucopia, he would name his little group, a gallery of lords and ladies whose acquaintances he’d made over the years. With these fellow gourmets he would share the culinary knowledge he’d gleaned from his journeys in the east and west. Most unusual for a lord of his rank, Dorian came to spend a great deal of time in his kitchens, testing out recipes himself. On occasion, the dishes he served to his guests for these small, intimate gatherings would be the work of his own hands. The membership did vary from time to time, both based on who could make it and who he sought to bring together. Rather than a fully closed circle, the League is more like a form of feasting, only it’s done for a much smaller crowd, without the public spectacle. Such occasions allowed for more refined foods which did not need to be served to hundreds and kept constantly warm over the course of hours like some common tavern stew. It also opened up an arena of more intimate diplomacy and negotiation for those who sought it, hosted on neutral ground by a lordly mediator, free from prying eyes.
Timeline:
25BC: Dorian is born, second in line to Longtable
24BC: His sister Lydia is born
9BC: House Merryweather hosts House Gardener for a tourney and feast. Dorian and his older brother Bennard serve the dish of honor to King Mern Gardener and his family. During the subsequent tourney, Mern knights both boys, despite their inexperience and lack of victory in the tourney
9BC-2BC: Dorian spends much time travelling the reach, attending events
1BC: Dorian and Bennard fight in the vanguard at the Field of Fire. Both are burned, Bennard far more severely than Dorian. Lord Merryweather is killed. Traumatized by the battle and his new maimed body, Bennard starts refusing food. Dorian desperately tries to re-create the dish they served King Mern eight years ago. The cook who made it has since gone senile, but eventually manages to help Dorian re-create it. He is given a place at court as apology for his mistreatment at Dorian's hands before this occurred.
1AC: Lord Bennard dies at the beginning of the year, leaving Dorian as lord of Longtable. His sister Lydia fulfills her betrothal to House Tarly, becoming lady of Horn Hill. At the prospect of marrying a Dornishwoman on the King's orders, Dorian decides to leave Westeros to put off his marriage. In Myr, he meets a woman calling herself Maryah, claiming to be a Tyroshi merchant. They fall in love and travel to Lys together. There Dorian promises to set aside his betrothal for her, whereupon she reveals herself as Joanna Dayne, his dornish betrothed.
1AC-4AC: Dorian and Joanna wed at Longtable, then depart on a new journey of the east. They reach as far as Qarth before turning back home. In 3AC, on the way back, their first child, Florys, is born while the couple are in Volantis, on the way home. They return via the newly built port of King's Landing.
4AC-8AC: Using knowledge from the east, Lord Dorian embarks on a project of rationalizing the agriculture of Longtable
5AC: Dorian and Joanna have their second child, a girl named Ellyn
8AC: Their third daughter, Desmera, is born
13AC: Dorian and Joanna spend a year travelling the northern free cities
14AC: Their fourth and final daughter, Gwin, is born
17AC: Dorian and Joanna undertake a journey to the Summer Islands with their children
23AC: The aftermath of the battle of Stonebridge brings back memories of the Field of Fire, as the Merryweathers watch burning slag run down the Mander
25AC: The Merryweathers travel to the celebration of the maturity of Aegon's sons
Family Tree:
Arthor Merryweather (father, d.1BC)
Cerelle Merryweather (pending family connection) (mother, d.20AC)
Rhea Merryweather (sister b.27BC)
Bennard Merryweather (brother, d.1AC)
Lydia Merryweather (sister, b.24BC)
Glendon Merryweather (uncle, d.1BC)
Myrcella Pommingham (aunt, d.22AC)
Leo Merryweather (cousin, b.13AC)
Joanna Dayne (wife, b.26AC)
Florys Merryweather (daughter, b.3AC)
Ellyn Merryweather (daughter, b.5AC)
Desmera Merryweather (daughter, b.8AC)
Gwin Merryweather (daughter, b.13AC)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Auxiliary Character:
Name and House: Florys Merryweather
Age: 23
Cultural Group: Reachman
Appearance: [A short, muscular woman with wavy black hair, normally worn in a bun. She has high cheekbones and a proud demeanor. Her rigid strength stands in contrast to the more relaxed nature of the Merryweather court, one she finds overly lax and casual](0_0.png (896×1344) (discordapp.com))
Trait: Hale
Skills: Swords (e), Essosi Blademaster
Talents: Dancing, Fishing, Cooking
Negative Traits: N/A
Starting Title: Heir to Longtable
Starting Location: Opening Event
Timeline:
3AC: Florys is born in Volantis, while her parents are on their way home from Essos
10AC: Florys starts training under Saathos Trevelyan, her father's Master at Arms
13 AC: She joins her parents on a tour of Pentos, Braavos, Norvos and Qohor
17AC: She travels with her parents to the Summer Islands
19AC-23AC: As she comes of age, Florys becomes more critical of her father's desire for peace, viewing it as increasingly far-fetched amid the increasingly controversial regency and the impending succession dispute. She resolves to make the kinds of connections her father seems unwilling to, in case of war
25AC: She accompanies her family to the celebrations
NPCS:
Ser Leo Merryweather (Age: 37, Archetype: Magnate) Lord Merryweather's first cousin, he has become an indispensable agent in the daily running of Longtable. Despite his foppish demeanor and aparent laziness, he is highly capable and loyal in his task of increasing his family's fortune. He remains happily unwed
Saathos Tevelyan: (Age:48, Archetype: Master at Arms) The son of a Lysene father and a Myrish mother, Saathos initially sought a career in amongst Myr's military officers, however his family's relatively low status proved an impediment to further promotion, later compounded by a dispute with a superior. He met Lord Merryweather in 3AC and eventually travelled West to offer his services five years later, finding his career progress stonewalled in his home city. Well into middle age, he still looks firm and imposing as profesisonal a soldier ought to

I'm most of the way through book 11 (Knife of Dreams) in my first read/listening of the series. Book 11 might be my favorite so far, except for maybe 4, the Shadow Rising.
Book 11 has had some of the best scenes in the series so far, and it's also really feeling like Tarmon Gai'don is getting closer. (I'm ready to get over Elayne's arc with the succession. 🙃)
And so, I thought I would make a list of some of my favorites of the series so far.
Past Books
-Ingtar's confession and sheathing the sword
-Mat in the red door Ter'angreal (both times)
-Mat's arc of discovering his luck in Book 3, and also him beating up Gawyn and Galad
-Rand in the rings of Rhuidean: The steps forward taking Rand back in time to find the origins of the people of the Dragon was really well done and fascinating
-Rand reveals the secret of the Aiel at Alcair Dal: This felt like a dramatic courtroom case, where Couladin denies the secrets of Rhuidean and the clan chiefs side with Rand
-Perrin's return to the Two Rivers
-Min and Siuan's escape from the Tower
-Mat failing to get Rand's attention until he calls "Lews Therin"
-Perrin talking to the wolves preceeding dumai's wells: "They have shadow slayer." "We come."
-Elayne, Nynaeve, and later Egwene in Salidar: It's cool to start to see the respective strengths of these 3 blossom as Nynaeve heal's gentling, Elayne makes Ter'angreal, and Egwene discovering traveling and more
-Morgaize relinquishing the throne to Elayne as the Seanchan take Amador
-Egwene maneuvering several Ais Sedai to swear fealty on the march to Tar'Valon
-Nynaeve reuniting with Lan AND overcoming her block: I'd been waiting for both of those things to happen for books and they happened at the same time
-Seeing the awe and fear from several points of view as chanellers around the world feel Rand and Nynaeve cleansing saidin
Book 11
-Galad challenging tricking Carridin into a trial by sword: Is Galad a prick? Definitely. But this scene was cool anyway. The white cloaks ride for Tarmen Gai'don
-Nynaeve tricking Lan and leaving him in Saldea: "[Lan Mandragoran] rides from World’s End toward Tarwin’s Gap, toward Tarmon Gai’don. Will he ride alone?" Made all the better by the backdrop of New Spring
-Perrin negotiates with the seanchan: Boy was I wrong when I thought Faile's capture would be a one book affair. But intimidating the banner general with his yellow eyes, Two Rivers archers, and the royalty and Asha'man who follow him was pretty sick.
-🌟 Egwene's imprisonment in the tower: This was easily my favorite POV in the whole series so far. The dignity of Egwene as she refuses to deny who she is and the inevitable earning of respect from the novices, accepted, and many sisters was just so cool. For those who are Sanderson fans it reminded me of Bridge 4.
Last but not least:
-"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.": This quote ages like fine wine, and it's my favorite part of starting new book.

So ive listened to every one of those 50 Voices interviews, and then other videos of each of those 'survivors' via YouTube. Some are telling real stuff, others are mixing in fact with fiction like David Icke. Others are just plain con artists. Some of them like that Jeanette Archer is clearly just a UK benefit scrounger - spent most of her life on sickness benefits like Incapacity Benefit,ESA,PIP ect ect ect and just needs to get a job. A lot of them are spirit channellers, life coaches, alien nuts ect who use all the usual words like 'energy', 'conciousness' and 'vibrational frequency' ect. Also - why are they all white? Is it just me? Maybe its a conspiracy within a conspiracy. In some cases its just the latest silly attempt to get people back into church. So many of them dont want to name anyone thats alive which is red flag right there. Of course they have their exuses for this. Follow the money. Some of them are just advertising their services to the needy and the gullable. Give em 50 quid and theyl 'cleanse ur Aura'. Why would they be so half hearted about all this? If they were legit theyd name everyone. Its like going to the police and reporting a murder and refusing to tell them who the murderer is. Silly! Also so much of it seems like a lot of films, shows and even books that ive seen and read. Like - exactly alike! Where they really lose me is when they start talking about magical powers and dark demonic entitys ect lol. Another thing - not one video,audio or picture leak. Youd think after all this time and how rampant its suppose to be someone somewhere would have leaked something.

Okay so, this will probably be long so buckle in.
About a month and a half ago a friend of mine, we'll call them K. K recently found out that the apartment they had been staying in wasn't going to be renewing their lease and if they didn't move their things by the end of day that the landlord would be starting the eviction process. As someone who has faced houselessness before, I offered to hold some of their stuff at my place temporarily and get them to the hotel they would be staying at until they could move into their new place. No biggie right? Wrong. After helping them move their stuff and getting them to the hotel, they stayed in communication with them so we could help them move the stuff from our house to their new place, and the day before they were supposed to move they got let known that they opted to go with another rental applicant instead. K and their partner, who we'll call J, started really panicking about having to keep paying for a motel without on paper jobs and unreliable income. Keep in mind I actively live in a low income complex myself and, cannot have guests, for more than 14 days at a time according to my lease. J had just gotten a lead on a job closer to my house so I offered to let them stay for the 14 day limit I'm allowed to have guests, so that they could get a paycheck in and be able to go to a cheaper motel close by to their job. Another thing they agreed to was making sure that there was no evidence of them staying in my house, and that they had to be gone during the inspection window m-f from 8am to 5pm. I know, I'm probably going to be told more than once how stupid this is or I am, but I need to vent about this before I lose my mind more than I have already.
Carrying on, my partner is working at the same place as J, so J had a reliable ride to this job. My first red flag with J was that J used almost all of their points within their first week at the new job for a myriad of reasons. First time was because K didn't feel good and didn't want to be left home alone. Fine. I thought it was really ignorant to start off on the wrong foot with a new job but whatever. Second time was because J didn't have lunch to take to work and can't work on an empty stomach. After this absence J explained to their boss that they were struggling to work on an empty stomach, so boss agrees to reach out to a local food bank to get some lunches packed for J and my partner for work every day so they don't have to work on empty stomachs every day until they start getting paid. J declined bosses offer because they didn't want the food pantry food offered to them. Third time J doesn't go in is yet again for K not feeling good and convincing J to stay home. Well , and today we found out at the last minute before they were supposed to be at work that J had been fired for accepting an overtime shift on Saturday and then no call no showing that shift. J had been at this job less than 3 weeks. Which is 1 week longer than I agreed to. Here's the kicker, I live with and care for a disabled woman who has very very severe anxiety, and K & J keep going behind my back to talk to her and lie about things they'll do for her to keep being allowed to stay here. And I'm going to bullet point all of the just outright shitty things these people have done since they got here, and before anyone tells me to make them leave; involving the cops is out of the question as it risks our housing, and they should be gone in the next couple of days.
-they have harassed me over cannabis since the day we helped them move their things. I live in a recreational state but consume for medical purposes.
-they have repeatedly paid back other people that they owe money instead of me or my partner and admitted that to our faces
-they keep 'accidentally' mixing my partners clothes with theirs and then wearing them in front of me. Keep in mind they're a, size small and my partner wears a 3x there's no confusing their shirts
-I have a deep freezer that I've been working hard to stockpile since covid hid and inflation has made grocery shopping so hard, and they've eaten every single thing out of my deep freezer.
-they have raided my entire pantry as well.
-they've thrown out my leftovers without asking me because they themselves don't eat leftovers
-they switched their visitations with their child from 4 hours on Tuesday nights to entire weekends without asking
-they took my partners special broth he had bought specifically to make something, opened it, and didn't even read the packaging, put it open back into my cabinet and it molded. Im allergic to mold :
-they've been asked repeatedly not to knock on my doors after my bedtime hours because my partner works early mornings and has a hard time sleeping; then proceed to message me one time and wait precisely 0.2 seconds for a response and then knock on my door anyways.
-they use my shower and leave hair, clog my drain, and don't ask anyone if they have to use the bathroom before they use it to shower for over an hour. I have also repeatedly asked them not to leave their dirty clothes on my bathroom floor and they won't.
-they argued about having to leave for the inspections and promised they would help clean during them and then stayed in the area they weren't allowed to be in for every day of the inspections and didn't do anything they said they would do.
-they keep having blowout fights in my basement and as I already stated the woman I care for has severe clinical anxiety. She did agree to this arrangement but I guess it's true that even if you think you know someone you really don't till you live with them.
-K has been smoking my cigarettes for days and doesn't replace them but won't buy their own pack
-they've been asked not to come upstairs unless it's to use the bathroom (not shower) during our quiet hours and they won't stop doing that either.
I'm sure there's more I'm missing but I'll answer any questions about it I guess. These people have gotten me so stressed out that my stress induced seizures, that I've had under control for over a year now have come back with a, vengeance and are happening almost every day, I'm getting migraines with aura, my hair is falling out in clumps, and another stress induced ailment I deal with is ALSO flaring up because of the stress. Don't need advice or anything just wanted to vent how frustrated I am 🥲

I was curious what your audio book(s) recommendations would be for a 21 hour road trip? Driving to Las Vegas then Sequoia National Park!!!
I love fantasy books like LOTR, Harry Potter, King Killer Chronicles, Red Rising Series, the Shadow Knights, and the Realm of the Elderlings. Not really into heavy vampire books, but do love Dresden Files.
I also like books about witches/healers, and loved The Stand by Stephen King (I just finished this one). I also loved Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. I also just finished this awesome book about a lady traveling by horse in the 50s from Maine to California, The Ride of Her Life.
I'm a bit down on my luck at the moment, so a really uplifting book would also be great. Thanks for your suggestions.

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/AdhesivenessMurky204
Originally posted to AITAH
AITAH for separating from my husband because he refused to get a vasectomy?
Thanks to u/queenlegolas and u/Direct-Caterpillar77 for suggesting this BoRU
Editor’s Note: added paragraph breaks for readability
Trigger Warnings: PTSD, mentions of abortion, domestic abuse, verbal abuse, sexual assault, rape
Original Post: April 28, 2024
My husband (28M, who I will call Jack) and I (27F) have been together for 4 years, we have 2 young children and I am pregnant again. I have been pregnant for what feels like most of our relationship. I got pregnant 4 months into our relationship. We got married a month before our daughter’s 1st birthday and ended up with a honeymoon baby. After our son was born, I talked to my OB and she put me on birth control and I have been taking it militantly.
My daughter is now 3 and my son is 2. A little over a month ago I discovered I am pregnant again, despite taking my birth control religiously. Abortion is banned in my state, and the pregnancy was discovered too far along to attempt to obtain one out of state. While Jack and I were nervous, we also love being parents and decided that 3 young kids would be a challenge, but 3 was a good number for us. Then we went in for the first ultrasound and got some unexpected news - it’s twins.
Things have been tough financially, and while we were stressed but excited for a third child, we were not expecting a third and fourth child. Beyond the finances, I am the primary caretaker and I know that twins is going to be a lot, three children under 5 is already a lot, but 4 children under 5 is going to be really really difficult for me. Physically, I am tired of being pregnant. I’ve been pregnant or breastfeeding the majority of our relationship. It’s exhausting, it feels awful, and I don’t recognize my body anymore.
Four children is enough. I don’t want more. I told Jack that I was done with pregnancy, I’ve been pregnant enough, I’ve been experimenting with different types of birth control for over a decade and I still can’t stop getting pregnant, abortion isn’t a valid option where we live, we need something more permanent. He agreed, and suggested an IUD, I told him no - if it did fail then it could cause an ectopic pregnancy which could kill me, especially where we live. I’ve had both control fail me multiple times already and I’m not taking the chance, so I suggested a vasectomy. He was not open to the idea, and was even upset that I suggested it and told me I should get my tubes tied. I told him a tubal ligation is a much bigger surgery and I could be recovering for weeks during which time I wouldn’t be able to work or take care of our 4 young children, but he could ice his balls for a day or two and be done with it. He told me that not getting pregnant was ultimately my responsibility, and topped it off by saying “that’s what your body your choice means, YOUR body, so YOU choose.” That’s when it went from a discussion to a full blown fight.
See, when I was 19 I had another birth control failure with my boyfriend at the time (who I will call Tom). I wanted an abortion, Tom did not because he was opposed. I told him I was getting the abortion since it was my body and my choice, and Tom said some horrible things to me, including threatening me. I broke up with him and got the abortion. In response, Tom ended up following me one night and attacking me. I don’t want to go into detail but it was horrible, and he ended up going to prison for a number of charges related to the attack. Not only do I have a number of scars and some long lasting physical effects, but I have PTSD as well.
Jack knows about my history and diagnosis, and has known from the beginning. I have a pretty prominent facial scar so I was upfront about it early on in our dating. Jack always presented himself as very pro-choice, so I was shocked that he would say that. I got really emotional and started crying and shouting, and it turned into a full-blown fight.
Eventually I said that birth control is a two-way street and so far I’ve been the only one managing it and he said “and now we have 2 kids and 2 more coming, great job.” I told him he sounded like Tom and he got super pissed, basically said how dare you compare me to him, and maybe he might want kids one day with someone who doesn’t compare him to her felon ex-boyfriend. I was stunned and horrified. I said “well then let’s not waste any fucking time,”then packed up myself and the kids and drove to my parents place.
It’s been about a week since the fight. I’ve spoken with Jack a few times and he has since apologized and said he was out of line and was speaking from a place of anxiety after finding out about the twins, but also that I said things that were out of line and it was wrong of me to insist he undergo a medical procedure. He said that can move on from the things I said and that he wants to see his children and be a family again. I told him no, that I didn’t want to “move on” from the things he said to me. I can’t just get over that and I think we need space apart. Jack was upset by this and while we talked I brought up getting a separation agreement to manage custody and finances while we figure things out. He did not like this suggestion, said we didn’t need to pull the courts into this.
I haven’t told a lot of people about what’s happening but my family and a couple close friends. My sister and best friend both think I should throw the whole man away, but my brother (who is the only other one married with kids) thinks that I’m being extreme for what sums up to a fight between two scared people who both said nasty things. My mom is trying to be supportive but is occasionally reminding me that I “don’t want to be a single mother of 4” and telling me not to let my PTSD drive my decisions, while my dad is being completely unhelpful (he thinks jokes are helpful - like calling me Doorknob because I “can’t stop getting knocked up”, telling me to let the oven cool down, real knee-slappers). I don’t know what to do. My kids are happy to be at grandma and grandpas house but they miss their daddy, I’m 4 months pregnant and already uncomfortable as hell, I wish I could go back to being a happy little family but I’m so hung up on the things he said in that fight. Am I destroying my family over one bad night? Am I being unreasonable for asking my husband to get a vasectomy?
Edit: I've noticed a lot of people recommending condoms. I have gotten pregnant with condoms twice. Our second child and my first pregnancy were both conceived using condoms properly (correct fit, put on correctly, single use, not expired, no breaks, etc). I do not trust condoms enough to not fail a third time. I know the failure rate is supposedly small, but it's not personally small enough for me. Edit to the edit: I'm sorry, I didn't expect so many comments so fast and I can't keep up with them. By the first pregnancy I mean the pregnancy with Tom. With Jack I was on the patch when I got pregnant with our daughter, condoms with our son, and the pill with the twins. So far I haven't ever suspected that Jack has tampered with our birth control and always presumed that I'm a fertile Myrtle.
I recognize the comments and just want people to know I'm seeing the suggestion. I'm not dismissing it, but the thought of it is deeply upsetting and has provoked a lot of anxiety. I just wanted to make it clear that if the suggestion is only based on the condoms, that the condom pregnancies were with two different partners. While I know I always used condoms properly with Tom, I do believe that Tom could have been fully capable of sabotaging the condoms.
AITAH has no consensus bot, OOP received mixed reactions of NTAs and YTAs
Relevant Comments
deepsleepsheepmeep: NTA. Your husband is though. Your body has already been through A LOT. A tubal ligation is a serious surgery and you are right about being out of commission for a while when recovering. If he is more concerned with an imaginary future wife than he is for you, I don’t think there is much hope for this marriage.
We have 4 close friends who all got vasectomies. None of them bitched about it like your wimp of a husband. We actually had fun vasectomy themed parties for them.
On the off chance he does end up getting a vasectomy, make sure to do the follow up appointments. One of the vasectomy fab 4 did not follow through and ended up with a post-vasectomy baby.

OOP: Thank you, I feel like this is a lot of what has been so upsetting has been that he's thinking about some imaginary future wife when I'm right here, his actual wife, the mother of his children. It's like he's already imagining a future without me.

 
Update: AITAH for separating from my husband because he refused to get a vasectomy?: May 3, 2024
I didn’t expect so many comments and literally couldn’t go through them all. It seemed like the majority of people said I was NTA but I did get a lot of YTAs telling me I was trying to force him to get a medical procedure and telling me to get one instead. Besides already addressing my reasonings why I made my request in the original post (which I want you to read with real "per my last email" energy), I in no way am *forcing* him to have a medical procedure, but I am saying that I do not want to be with a partner who is not willing to be snipped. This is an issue of compatibility. The number of children you want, the methods of birth control you’re willing to use, those are issues of compatibility and a reason relationships end all the time. If he doesn’t want to be sterilized that’s fine, but then that means that we’re not compatible anymore, since it means he wants more children and I don’t. Beyond that there were some YTA comments and some DMs that were just nasty, calling me a murderer and saying my body is a cemetery. Sadly enough, I expected those types of comments, because I know there are a lot of Toms out in the world.
First I wanted to address a couple things that kept coming up, because last post turned into thousands of comments that all said about 5 different things, so to avoid my inbox becoming another echo chamber:

You’re 100% going to have a C-section anyway so just get a tubal while giving birth.

No, I’m not 100% going to have a C-section anyway. Twins are not an automatic C-section. With my birth history there is no reason to presume that a C-section is in my future. My OB agrees, and has discussed the possibility as doctors have to do but also said that based on my past two birth experiences, I'm a "perfect candidate" for vaginal delivery.
I also am not going to mince words: tubal ligations are *less* effective than vasectomies with a *much higher* likelihood of an ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancy can *kill me*. In fact I got a PM from a woman who is a fellow fertile Myrtle who had an ectopic after a tubal. I am rejecting birth control options that, if they fail, would lead to my likely death. I don’t want to be pregnant again but I also don’t want to die and leave my children motherless, and in no way should anyone assume that traveling to another state to obtain an emergency abortion will continue to be an option in the future - we live in scary times, and Gilead is a real possibility. The comments seemed to have the vibe that people think that ligations are magically more effective than vasectomies and vasectomies are more of a whisper of sterility than an actual sterilization method so for those in the back VASECTOMIES ARE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN TUBAL LIGATIONS, FULL STOP. So I really need y’all to shut up about it.

Go to another state and obtain an abortion anyway.

I appreciate the personal offers to help I received in DMs deeply, but no. I’m in my 2nd trimester, which I know is still legal in some places, however I am at a point in my pregnancy where I personally as an individual do not feel comfortable obtaining an abortion, considering I would be *even farther* along by the time I could travel (which is not only finances, but logistics as well). I am 16 weeks pregnant now, these babies aren’t just clusters of cells to me anymore, and I’m not going to expand on that since it’s not up for debate.

Why not adoption?

With love and respect to everyone who has gone through adoption in all its aspects, adoption is absolutely not for me. This is a thought process I already went through 8 years ago, and now that I’m a mother and not a scared teenager I know it’s even less for me. I personally could not go through with it and come out the other side intact. Going through a full pregnancy, having my babies, and then being separated from them would break me.

Leave him and give him full custody of the twins

No. Because going through a full pregnancy, having my babies, and then being separated from them would break me. Jesus, some of y’all.

Just have a sexless marriage.

No. I love banging my husband, obviously lol. I don't want to be in a sexless marriage and anyone who has been to an abstinence-only high school knows that abstinence is not the way lol. There were a lot of comments assuming I would be perfectly fine withholding sex from my husband and having na dead bedroom, and I wouldn't. I have a sex drive. I'm going to want to bang my husband. Wanting to have sex with your spouse is *normal*.

What you would do about birth control if you divorced and dated in the future?

I’m not thinking of dating anyone else right now, because I’m thinking more about saving my actual marriage instead of an imaginary relationship. And if theoretically I did, I would probably seek out a partner who was snipped or was ready to be to be honestly, or a woman. I’m bisexual so there’s a very good chance that my future partner wouldn’t have the right parts to knock me up anyway lol.

Jack is sabotaging your birth control

I clarified my methods in the original post (as per my last email), but I did want to address this because it came up a LOT. I don’t have reason to believe that Jack sabotaged my birth control. A number of other fertile Myrtles showed up and brought up they or their family members repeated pregnancies in the face of birth control, including tubals. Accusing my husband of reproductive coercion for no reason other than I keep getting pregnant is a big leap and a weighty accusation. I am not the only fertile Myrtle out there, there's a reason there's a whole term for it.

Your husband is a narcissist, abuser, psychopath, and he does no childcare

My husband and I historically have a really healthy and loving relationship outside of this fight. In fact, this fight is the first time we’ve really had a fight, we’ve only ever had little arguments that we’ve been able to talk through. He’s an active father, the reason that I do the majority of childcare is due to circumstance between maternity leaves, our job schedules and the fact that I breastfed my babies. Someone also presumed I’m the breadwinner, which isn’t quite true. Jack makes more than me, but we do not have deeply significant differences in our incomes. When he is home he does his fair share of cleaning and cooking (arguably more than me at times), and parenting. That being said, the things he said in the heat of the moment were deeply concerning, and we’re addressing that together.
So to get down to the nitty gritty of the real update: since the last time I posted, Jack and I have sat down together and had a real come to Jesus talk. I’m not going to go through the whole breakdown, but it basically boiled down to this: it’s the vasectomy, but it’s more than the vasectomy. It was wrong of me to compare him to Tom but it was wronger of him to weaponize my trauma against me in a very malicious way. The way he intentionally used the same language my abuser used in an effort to hurt me was not acceptable and damaged the trust between us. He agreed it was not acceptable and said that in the aftermath he was horrified and ashamed his own words, and that he (as an explanation and not an excuse) kind of snapped under the stress. Oh and what he said about his “next wife” was not an indication of him not being committed to me but was because he felt hurt and wanted to hurt me back. He has apologized numerous times and seems to feel genuinely bad about it.
As for the separation, I am still going forward with it. I need space and time and I need to take that before the babies come. I am still staying with my parents who, for the record, are not sick of me or the kids. We’re a tight knit family, I only moved out when I moved in with Jack, and my sister moved out about a year ago so they have been empty nesting, and my mom doesn’t like that we live “too far” (an hour) away. What I have realized with space and time is how deeply triggering it was, in a way that I cannot explain to those without PTSD from DV, those who know will know. It’s deeply unsettled me and I’m having a hard time “getting over it” so to speak. There is now a lot of fear of my husband that was never there before and it’s going to take a lot to repair that trust and sense of safety. I cannot make a decision while I’m in this space, and I am addressing this with my personal therapist. Overall, I told him that if he wanted to stay married to me I needed two things from him: marriage counseling and a vasectomy, and even then I still cannot guarantee him anything. He understands, but I do not know what will happen with the vasectomy right now, we focused more on talking about the fight, but he is very aware that it's now a dealbreaker. And we have a marriage counseling appointment set up for next week. I'm hoping that counseling will bring some clarity to the situation, and in the mean time for the next couple months I'm focusing on giving my kids lots of cuddles and preparing myself for two new babies to come into my world, with or without Jack.
Additional information from OOP on her relationships

OOP: I've been through a trial to convict my ex-boyfriend of trying to kill me because of an abortion in a deep red, deeply religious area. I've definitely heard worse things, and I typically have pretty thick skin. That being said, I am pregnant and pretty emotional, so it's not the best experience. That being said, I do appreciate the level-headed comments when I see them through the sea of comments kind of saying the same stuff over and over. I'm not reading a lot of them if what I can see in the comment notification starts off nasty, so a lot of it is just inbox white noise. My favorites are the ones that start off with "I'm not going to read that BUT..." and I just think lol same. Like you don't want to read my post but expect me to read your comment that was made without even reading the situation? lol nope. And there are a lot of people conflating "providing someone with a hard choice" with "forcing someone into a medical procedure" and it just makes wading through for the actually helpful comments more tiring. Thank you though, I very much appreciate the kindness. Sorry, I've gotten so much of the same nonsense I guess I needed a little vent lol.

OOP on wanting her husband to make a decision and be on the same page

OOP: I want to be honest with him about where I am emotionally because I want him to make an informed decision. While the vasectomy is a deal breaker, it's really my secondary concern. My primary concern is the way he acted during the fight and his intention exploitation of my trauma because he was mad and scared. I think that telling him "get the snip to stay with me" and then deciding to leave anyway because there are deeper issues and/or I don't feel safe anymore would be cruel. He deserves to have the full picture before he makes a choice, doesn't he?
If he doesn't want the vasectomy, that's his choice. It's not what I want, but it is what it is. If he wants to call it quits at 4 kids, then it is what it is and if he secretly wants to be the next Nick Cannon then it is what it is he should be free to do that. That is part of why I don't know where he is on the vasectomy right now and we didn't really discuss it much when we talked, I'm focusing on discussing the bigger issue for me which is trust and safety within the relationship. The only way for him to make an informed decision about whether or not he get a vasectomy is for him to have all the information about the situation. If that makes him want a vasectomy less, then it is what it is. It's not about making him want to have a vasectomy. It's about being on the same page.

 

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