Back junior idols

Hi all,
It's my first time asking strangers things about relationship. So please forgive me if my story and question is a bit weird.
To start it off, there's this girl in my school and we live close to each other so we travel on the same bus everyday back and forth. Me and her are currently doing A Levels (junior year) now, but we've known each other ever since when we were in Year 7 (6th grade). We did not had a good history back then as I was an annoying little brat who thinks he's the coolest since he plays football and yeah I was not good with girls. When we get to Year 11 (sophomore year), we started to get more common classes and we became closer since I became more mature over the years and my friendship with girls are getting better with girls.
After Year 11 (sophomore year), many of my friends (and hers, too) left for college to study Foundation courses while me and her stayed in the same school to study A levels. Since there are less students/people in the year group now, everyone who stayed back for A levels became closer and closer. I became best friends with her and I gotta admit that I enjoy going to lessons with her and also teaching her maths (she's bad at it).
So everything was alright and so on until about 3 months ago, where she started giving me more and more attention and also I often caught her looking my way when I'm hanging out with my friends. At first I just thought: "Oh, maybe she is just zooning out, not a big deal" and went back to what I'm doing and shit. But after awhile, I realizes that everywhere I go, I can almost always see her somewhere even tho we share 2 of my 4 subjects together.
So as you know, in A Levels (or 6th form), us 6th formers get free lessons where we either hang out in the common room or we study together. Almost every time when I have a free lesson I go to the library and study. She often hangs out with her friends in the common room (she took art, dt and maths so there were nothing for her to study tbh while i took maths, dt, chemistry and physics). It was also around 3 months ago, I started to see her coming to the library with her friends more and more often.
So this brings us to around a month ago. That's when things really started to go on heat and that's also when I realized that I fell in love again (maybe). So in DT, me and her sat together and we help each others with work (I'm good at CAD softwares). So in this one month, I found her to get a little bit touchy (like she would hit me (as a joke) and she doesn't have any problem of me giving a pat to her shoulder and so on so on). Also in the meantime, she likes to joke around me and we would laugh at jokes and share funny reels at each others and stuff. My weakspot in this whole crush thing is when a girl gives me attention, I fall for them. So there I am, falling in love with her, but not sure that if she actually just treats me as a friend or she has a crush on me (I'm a heavy overthinker from everything that I had experience before).
I've never dated anyone before and I don't really have any female friends who I want to talk to them about this. I don't really know what I should do at this point. Should I keep it platonic? Should I ask her out? What do you guys think? I think I have a crush on her but in a way I think the only reason I have feelings is because of the attention that I'm getting. Sorry for the long paragraph and also my bad english :\

Hi everyone!
I`ve been lurking here for a bit and I figure, now is my time to shine! 😅😭 First of all, I`m nearly 40 and I have only recently learned of the language to describe my upbringing and my relationship with my mother. Has this happened to anyone else? I thought my parents just sucked. I had no idea I was being parentified, gaslit and taken advantage of(and still am by my mother).
Little background: I`m the eldest child in my family. My brother is 5 years my junior. My parents married young (17&19) and my mom divorced my dad when I was 12. Also note: I grew up in a Hispanic American household, which added to the situation for me, as if you know, the sons in these households are often doted upon and the daughters are second class citizens who at the same time get dumped with a lot of responsibility.
Before my parents divorce, my mom confided in me at about age 10-12 about her marriage with my dad, how she wanted to leave, abuse, etc.(then after the divorce confided in my about her dating life, abortion, other personal matters). I encouraged her to divorce him and she eventually did. These days she says that none of that ever happened, that she credits her divorce to her male friends at the time(oh yeah, my mother is a lowkey misogynist). Ever since the divorce, I`ve had to sort out my mom's finances because she is irresponsible(bankruptcy, prone to overspending, prone to being scammed). She has borrowed money from me since I started working at 15. I made the mistake of one time co-signing for her on a purchase and had to end up paying for it all to avoid messing up my credit because she refused to pay.
I moved away when I was 24 and was away from my mom for 13 years, during which time she still borrowed money, came to me with her problems, asked me to do things for her, stressed me out by trying to figure out her life from another state. I recently moved back after going through my own divorce and living with her has been a big challenge. I`m hoping to move out sooner rather than later(getting my life together to leave a very expensive California), but in the interim, it is very frustrating. Today I feel like I`m on the verge of tears still having to be the parent in this relationship. I still have to handle events that she cannot herself, read paperwork, make sure she isn`t getting herself into deeper issues with her finances. All of this while trying to remain calm while I deal with her because she gaslights me and makes me feel like I`m the one with the bad attitude. I have to speak to her gently and like a child so that she doesn't get upset.
Anyway. Sorry for the rant. I wanted to come here to vent and also connect with people who understand. At this point, I know it will never change. I have accepted that. My goal is to move on with my life and help when I can but not overextend myself when I move out. It's unfortunate that I didn`t get parents who were reliable(haven't spoken to my dad in about 15 years. That is its own bullshittery). The end.
Thanks for reading.

My current girlfriend (M) is asexual, like repulsed by the thought of sex, and I am very not. So, I've been planning to break up for a while now. Here comes another girl (V). Me and V bond over her trauma dumping and playing phasmophobia. This leads to a 7 hour call where we talk about sex things, life things, and etc all while half flirting with each other (she knows I'm dating M). We eventually confess to flirting and shit's complicated. My current plan is leave M, as I've been wanting to, for V. 2 problems: V's psychotic ex, who committed several Cosby's worth of crimes to her and gave her PTSD, is obsessed with M and only backed off because she was dating me (my solution is just don't tell him we broke up). Second problem is that V is a freshman, and I'm a junior. Feels like a bad look, but we'd have to hide our relationship anyway so I'm not super worried, only normal worried. Thoughts, helps, opinions?

So the other day i was in cab ride with my collogue (Bharat) talking about the ongoing elections in india. All of a sudden the conversation went from election talk to a full-blown religious and historical rabbit hole. I was chilling with my coworker Bharat, debating the merits of various politicians (shocking, I know), when somehow we stepped on to a conversation about ancient India. Don't ask me how, Even i don't know
Anyway, Bharat drops this truth bomb that nearly sent me swerving off the road myself. Apparently, Christian missionaries back in the day (supposedly 100s of years ago) were convincing Hindus to convert for, get this, a bag of rice! Now, pictures flooded my mind of starving villagers desperately throwing their idols overboard for a bowl of biryani. I mean, come on, that's just cereal box history, right? I burst out laughing, picturing some scrawny missionary salesman peddling Christianity like a timeshare.
To my surprise, Bharat didn't take it personally. He explained, with the seriousness of a scholar unwrapping a mummy, that these missionaries targeted the lower castes, the folks who got stuck at the bottom of the Hindu social pyramid. Apparently, Christianity offered them an escape, a chance to ditch the whole "you-can-only-clean-my-dishes" caste system for a religion that promised everyone was equal. Hallelujah, right?
The plot thickens though, because as the cab ride was stuck in bengaluru traffic in peak bengaluru hour, Bharat started defending the caste system itself! Now, this is where my jaw hit the floor faster than a rogue chapati. He was going full-on Hindu apologist, saying it was all part of some divine plan set up by the "Hindi gods" themselves. Basically, some folks were born to be served to, and others were born to, well, serve. Talk about a recipe for societal indigestion!
So, here I am, stuck in a cab with my coworker who seems to think social mobility is a myth and dinner reservations are preordained by Ganesha. Needless to say, my brain was doing mental gymnastics trying to understand his perspective. This whole thing has me itching to do some serious Googling. What's the real story here? Did missionaries just bribe people with rice, or is there more to it? And was Bharat channeling some inner guru with his divine social order spiel? Guess this calls for another round of discussions, maybe over some actual biryani this time, to sort this mess out!
EDIT - I am not trying to put down the hindu relegion here. i am merely here for the fact that why did hindus did not take care of their brothers and let others offer the aid and let the hindu convert to christianity? TOH HINDU KO KABHI DOOSRON SE KHATARE MEI NAHI THA? KHUD APNE UPPER CAST WALE HINDU SE KHATRA THA?

Lately I’ve been mourning my body.. I keep seeing pictures pop up from 3 years ago when I first started recovery and at the time I thought I was huge but now looking back it was the best I’ve ever looked.. I had gained a l bit and was just above being UW, the clothes I wore, my aesthetic, my long hair and being so confident for the first time in my life. (Even if I was faking it to make it) Granted that few months of bliss ended up setting me up for failure and it’s not a time I should be idolizing. I just miss the way I looked and that’s it.. I feel like I’ll never look like that again, I had gained so much weight in two years I was obese, then I lost most of it and was boardering the healthy and overweight line but it was the smallest I’d been in 2 years.. I had a ton of stretch marks and loose skin and my boobs sag because of the rapid weight gain then rapid weight loss then I got pregnant and I thought I’d be fine bc I already had stretch marks, loose skin and saggy boobs but now at 33 weeks I somehow have more even tho Im still at a lower weight than I was at my highest weight.
Ugh I’m sorry if that’s all jumbled and makes no sense and I feel like I sound so ungrateful but I’m not, I was told I only had a 10% chance of conceiving naturally because of how damaged my body was from my ED but it miraculously happened and I couldn’t be happier about her coming! I’ve always wanted to be a mom and thought I’d never get the chance without IVF.
I feel pressured not to go back to my ed because I have a daughter and don’t want her to end up with an ed like I did bc of my mom.. I miss my old body that I’ll never have back with out surgery and even then I’ll never have the skin I did back. It also sucks because 2 of the girls I went to high school with who have kids are both super skinny (one has an ed and the other is just naturally skinny) I’m jealous bc I let myself go for 2 years and feel like that wrecked my body more than being pregnant. Anyone else relate? Or am I being over dramatic?

Yelena watched the doorway through which the young Ashfield scion had just left for a few moments more as she pondered over the meeting they’d just had.
*Precocious indeed,* she thought with a smile.
A smile that only grew as her gaze flitted over to her childhood friend’s… complicated expression.
It seemed young William’s decision had come as much a surprise to his instructor as it had come to Yelena herself.
“He said no,” Joana said after a few moments.
Yelena nodded slowly as she reclined into her friend’s surprisingly comfortable chair. Given what she knew of Griffith, the Queen had half expected the thing to be harder than mithril when she first sat down - but it was surprisingly plush.
“Not without good reason,” Yelena said as she shifted about.
“Good reason?” Joana scoffed. “You offered him your daughter’s hand.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You offered *all* of your daughter’s hands.”
Yelena rolled her eyes at her friend’s tone. “And if he’d accepted I would have considered it a bargain.”
A minor scandal and the loss of a number of future marriage alliances was ultimately nothing compared to the ability to raid Kraken nests. And that was ignoring that a hypothetical means to slay kraken in deep water would undoubtedly have other applications.
Applications that would be incredibly useful in the months to come.
Though, perhaps, if young William’s plans came to fruition that coming storm could be delayed by a few years.
“…Are things truly that desperate?” Joana asked quietly.
“They’re not great,” Yelena admitted, massaging the bridge of her nose. “The Blackstones… I knew they’d resist the reforms, but to threaten open rebellion?”
She’d not expected that. Not even in her wildest dreams. Lindholm’s only human ducal house had ever been wilful, and their antipathy towards the Orcs who dwelled in the Sunlands was well documented, but surely even they could see why Yelena was doing what she was.
Regardless of what her critics said, her decision to end the slave trade in Lindholm was most assuredly not the result of ‘useless sentiment’.
Far from it.
Oh certainly, Yelena had no love for the institution of slavery, for reasons both moral and financial, but that wasn’t why she’d created the abolitionist movement.
With each passing year, the Homeland’s view of Lindholm grew ever more covetous. More and more the Sun Empress and Desert Khan’s rhetoric centred less on their ongoing deadlock with each other and more on the idea of ‘recovering wayward territories’.
Certainly, that could have been a reference to Old Growth as much as Lindholm, but Yelena doubted it.
Lindholm might have scared the Solites and Lunites into retreating by choosing to engage them over deep water, but ultimately those victories were borne of a lack of conviction on the part of her foes.
Had the two disparate fleets been willing to risk the permanent loss of a small portion of their mithril cores in order to achieve victory and push towards the mainland, they may well have been able to flip the allegiances of a number of Lindholmian houses.
Oh, certainly, the high elves and dark elves of Lindholm might have prided themselves on maintaining the strictures of equality that defined the Old Empire – but with either Solite or Lunite airships hovering over their family castles, she couldn’t help but wonder if some might reconsider their stances on their fellow elves.
No, while an invasion of Lindholm would certainly be costly, it was entirely within the realm of reason.
An invasion of the Old Growth however?
There was a reason the Wood Elves – as they named themselves – had managed to remain independent of both the other two, much larger, nations despite sharing land borders with both of them.
Their strange magics might have been muted and weak beyond the borders of their home, but within their territory they were nigh invincible.
No, if there was to be any ‘reclamation’ of any territory belonging to the old Aelven Imperium, it was likely to come from Lindholm.
To that end, the kingdom could ill afford to keep feeding people and iron into the meatgrinder that was the Sunlands. Could ill afford to keep orcs that might otherwise be valuable mages laboring in the fields under the eyes of watchful taskmasters.
Lindholm needed every mage-knight it could get – regardless of the color of their skin or the shape of their ears.
Yet after year and years of negotiations and attempts to shift public opinion on the matter, the North still remained willfully ignorant of that truth.
“Surely they know that even if they win, any kind of division between us will just see the Homeland sweep over them?” Joana said.
Yelena shrugged. “I have a feeling that Duchess Blackstone’s victories over both the Lunites and Solites has left her confident of repeating the fact should it come to that.”
Foolhardy, in her eyes, but no one had ever accused the Blackstones of being meek. Nor being incapable of backing up their sometimes insane claims. What other House could lay claim to an ancestry that had once beaten back the Old Imperium at the height of its power?
Where other human nobles had been sworn into the Old Imperium on their knees with their battered armies scattered to the winds, the Blackstones managed to resist long and hard enough that the Imperial Legions had been forced to come to the negotiating table.
Ultimately, the Blackstones had still been absorbed into the Empire, but they’d done so on their terms with their heads unbowed.
…Though it was somewhat ironic that nearly a thousand years on, it was now those same humans in the position of the old Imperial Legion while it was the free orcs who now utilized the same strategies as the old Blackstone tribes – right down to the Wyvern riders.
“I could imagine that,” Joana muttered.
“Is it strange that I think she might pull it off?” Yelena said – though only because she was sure that no one beyond her friend and silent guards was listening.
“Part of me wants to argue that, but… do you think it’s a human thing?”
Yelena thought about the Blackstones and the young man who’d just turned down a chance to be king one day.
“Perhaps,” she admitted.
Personally she thought it was because humans didn’t live as long – and there was more of them. When your life could be measured in but a single century, perhaps you were a bit more inclined towards taking risks that might make an elf balk?
…Risks like trying to take your first year team up against a third year team in the name of trying to avoid a war.
Or at least delay it.
“I still can’t believe he said no to your offer,” Joana said, something… complicated in her friend’s expression.
Yelena grinned at the sight, though she wrestled down the urge to ask a number of probing questions of her normally straight laced friend, who seemed to have a childish crush on a young man nearly ten years her junior – and her student beside.
Normally she’d be all over a scandal that delicious.
Alas, right now was work time. “I can. He gave me his reasons and they were solid.”
Well, solid enough. If you squinted a bit. And tried to think ‘human’.
Rather than all-but guarantee a war by having the Crown break off his betrothal, he intended to do it himself.
Loudly and publicly.
And if he won – and that was a big *if* – he’d all but destroy any kind of excuse the Blackstones might have to declare war in response. Indeed, by being ‘shamed’ in such a public manner they’d need to spend a few years at least regathering lost support.
After all, who would want to follow a house into a civil war just after their heir was publicly humiliated by a team of cadets two years her junior?
Academy fights weren’t just schoolyard squabbles. They were civil conflicts writ small. A microcosm of the constant jostling and jockeying of Lindholm’s houses.
In other words, they held weight.
If Willaim could beat his fiancée, Yelena knew she’d owe him more than she could ever truly repay. A few more years of preparation would turn an almost guaranteed defeat into something *much* more even.
Especially if she could scoop up who knows how many mithril cores that were otherwise just littering the ocean. Ninety percent of them would be of limited use immediately, but a few years would give her time to construct at least a few more airship hulls to house the devices.
All that was required was for William to win.
“Solid,” Joana scoffed. “His plan is to go up against a group of third years with a team of firsties.”
Yelena tried to keep the intensity she was feeling out of her tone as she leaned forward. “You don’t think he can do it?”
Joana opened her mouth before hesitating. “I… normally I’d say no. Talented as they are, the gap in experience is just too wide.”
“But…”
The dark elf rolled her silver eyes behind her glasses. “But, with William’s newest invention…” The woman paused. “Son of a bitch.”
For just a moment Yelena was treated to the rare sight of her friend laughing. “I can’t believe I thought he ‘just wanted to use it in a schoolyard fight’,” the Instructor said.
“Well, he sort of is, in a way.” Yelena shrugged. “It just so happens to be a very important schoolyard fight.”
Joana laughed. “I suppose it is.”
“Still, do you think he can win?”
Joana straightened up. “I genuinely don’t know. With his new invention he might be able to catch her off guard. If he can skew the numbers in his favor at the start, they might have a chance.”
Yelena frowned. Not exactly the ringing endorsement she wanted to hear, but that was part of why she valued Joana’s friendship.
Always had really, even when the girl had first come to court at the age of ten as a potential playmate for Yelena’s daughters and told her that her dress made her look like some kind of tropical bird.
Something Yelena realized upon closer inspection was true.
Ever since, the Queen had made a point of checking in with the girl from time to time, if only for the occasional shot of unvarnished truth.
It was a strange ‘friendship’ from the outside looking in, but one that got less so as time went by and the age gap became less stark.
“Well, let’s hope the human capacity for the nigh impossible isn’t relegated entirely to the Blackstones,” Yelena muttered.
Because if it wasn’t, the boy would either have to marry one of Yelena’s daughters or die.
She *could* *not* afford the knowledge in his head to reach the Blackstones. To that end, he’d either accept her offer – rolling the dice on the onset of war and all that might come with it – or he’d suffer an accident.
As much as it pained the royal sovereign’s heart to see such a bright and enterprising soul be snuffed out before its time.
Being forced to make such decisions was simply the price of wearing the crown.
“Still,” Joana said, and Yelena was grateful for the distraction as she looked up. “Will you actually leave him alone if he pulls this off?”
Yelena scoffed.
“Of course not. If anything I’ll up my offer.” She shrugged. “I’ll give him you, myself and half my court if it means getting my hands on what’s in his head.”
It was actually a little amusing how Joana flushed at her words, even as she shook her head.
“Yes, that sounds a lot more like you.”
Yelena nodded. Damn right it did.
Though as she did, a thought occurred to her. “Hey Joana?”
“Yes?”
“In your reports to me, didn’t you mention the Ashfield boy having some kind of nickname.”
The dark elf pondered the words for a moment before stiffening. “Hmm, he does actually. A rather apt one considering. Apt enough that I’m wondering if whatever he used to kill Al’Hundra is related.”
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense. What is it?”
Joana leaned back, her head craned upwards, as if seeking strength from above.
“Kraken Slayer.”
Yelena laughed. She couldn’t help it.
“Of course it is.”


“You killed Al’Hundra.”
William was still reeling a little from the conversation he’d just had, so he was actually a little caught off guard by a finger being shoved into his face the moment he stepped back into his teams quarters.
*Ah,* he thought. *I promised answers.*
Though it seemed that in his absence his team had managed to figure out some of those answers without him.
Glancing past Olzenya’s outstretched arm, he saw Marline shaking her head – as if to vehemently deny she’d told them anything.
She needn’t have bothered, her geass precluded it as an option. Hell, even once everyone found out it would preclude it as an option.
Which was for the best for the moment because now he wasn’t so much trying to hide what he’d done as *how* he’d done it. Admittedly, Marline didn’t know anything beyond the broadest details, but she knew enough to know that it was some kind of enchantment combined with alchemy.
Now it was possible the forces working against him – or rather simply to profit off him – had already figured that out and he’d hear the alchemy lab exploded any moment now, but he’d sooner put it off for as long as he could.
To that end, he turned to Olzenya – though not before politely lowering her pointing arm.
Something that, to her credit, the high elf allowed – actually looking a little embarrassed by her outburst and thus rudeness.
“Honestly, I was expecting something like that to come from Bonnlyn, not you,” he said to the slightly flushed high elf.
As he glanced over toward where the dwarf was sitting, she shrugged. “I realize I may not be the most classically polite individual around, but I’ve been a merchant long enough to recognize when someone’s got a trade secret they want to keep close to their chests.”
If anything, Olzenya flushed harder, as while she might not have been familiar with trade secrets, she was most definitely familiar with the notion of house spells that needed to be kept secret.
“I also thought ambushing him at the door was a little rude,” Verity murmured from the back of the room.
Olzenya coughed, before backing up. “Of course, I apologize for that William.”
More bemused than anything else, especially as the elf curtsied, he waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine. Or, understandable, I guess.”
“Good,” Ozlenya smiled, glad for his acceptance… before she shouted again. “Because you lied to us.”
“I did?”
“He didn’t,” Marline said. “He said he had something to bet against Tala.”
Indeed he had, something he’d kept hidden under a sheet. After all, he’d not wanted his big surprise to be spoiled by the rumors of his coming beating him to the cafeteria.
And they would.
Rumors in the academy somehow managed to move at light speed.
“He implied it was gold,” Olzenya shot back.
“And you said Tala wouldn’t go for it, but you came with us anyway,” Bonnlyn said.
Indeed, he had implied it was gold. Or ‘something valuable enough to catch her interest’.
“To comfort him after she shot him down,” Olzenya said. “Instead I damn near tripped over my own feet in front of everyone when he pulled an honest to goddess mithril core out of his ass.”
William was actually a little thrown off – and amused – by the sudden display of crassness from the noble girl.
“But he didn’t lie.” It was actually a little surprising – and heartwarming – to hear Verity speaking so forcefully.
And that Olzenya didn’t immediately snap at her for doing so. The team really had come a long way in just a few months.
*Ah, the joys of shared suffering,* William thought as he watched the girls bicker amongst themselves.
“As I’m sure you’ve all guessed, I have indeed been less than open about a few things,” he said, silencing all of them – except Marline who’d yet to speak in the first place. “With that said, I’ve never once lied to you about my end goal.”
“Breaking off your betrothal,” Marline said finally.
“Breaking off my betrothal *without* starting a war,” he said. “If it were that easy, the Queen would have done it for me just now.”
“You met the Queen?” Olzenya sounded a little faint.
“I did.”
Oh, how he did.
“Oh ancestors, please don’t tell me you hit on the queen!?” This time Marline sounded a little faint.
And he actually felt a little offended. “What!? Why would you think that.”
“You’re doing the same thing you do when we talk about Instructor Griffith,” Bonnlyn said with studiously neutral voice. “Or Instructor Morline. Or Instructor Flen. Or some of the guards.”
“Or that one cafeteria lady,” Verity chimed in, a little red in the face.
“Or the-”
“I do not!” He’d finally had enough of these aspersion on his character.
Across the room, a number of sighs rang out, even from the elves.
“At least now I knew why he never checked me out,” Bonnlyn said. “He’s got mommy issues. And I’m not old enough to tickle them.”
“Still, the Queen?” Olzenya hissed.
“I mean, have you seen her?” Marline muttered back. “I mean, I don’t agree with him… but I get it.”
“I didn’t ‘perv’ on the Queen.” Some part of him died on using such childish language. “We had a meeting about my plans and… what occurred with Al’Hundra. Needless to say, the fact that I’m here means she’s agreed to go ahead with them and I’m also to keep quiet about anything I may or may not have had to do with any Kraken going missing. Or their cores.”
He deliberately left out the royal marriage offer.
Still, with those words the room went silent. After all, if the Queen had told him to say nothing, he was expected to say nothing. Just because the North in general didn’t have much respect for royal authority didn’t mean the rest of the kingdom did.
Quite the opposite.
“Well, if the Queen has commanded you to *remain* silent, I suppose there’s nothing to be done,” Olzenya muttered. “Though I would like answers some day.”
“Hell, I’d like to know why you brought Marline in on your plans,” Bonnlyn said, glancing at the Dark Elf. “You know, and not the rest of us.”
There was no missing the hint of hurt there – which he understood.
“I can promise you it was purely a matter of convenient circumstance,” he said. “And I can promise you, I didn’t confide in Marline for free.”
All the girls glanced up as the dark elf nodded slowly. “He’s not lying – though I can’t say anymore. Literally. It’s a price I paid willingly, but one I doubt any of you would be interested in.”
Almost as one, he could see the lightbulbs turn on in everyone’s brain simultaneously – except for Verity, who took a few seconds.
*‘Geass,’* thought none of them said it.
This time though, when the girls looked between him and Marline, there was a definite sense of wariness to it.
“Well, I suppose there’s nothing else to say then,” Bonnyln said. “I guess we should…”
“…Go to bed,” Olzenya nodded warily.
William grinned. “Good idea. Big day tomorrow and all that.”
That was an understatement, and he could tell everyone was thinking it as they made their way over to their rooms.
Still, it was true all the same.
They’d need their rest if they wanted to stand a chance tomorrow.
Indeed, they’d need every advantage they could get.
To that end, William could only hope he’d stacked the deck in their favor enough to matter.
…It took him a long time to get to sleep.
When he did awake, in the early hours of the morning, it was to the sound of an explosion.
*In the direction of the old alchemy labs if I’m not wrong,* he thought with a grim smile.
It seemed someone had decided to investigate his storage room even sooner than he’d anticipated.
Annoying, but it hardly mattered at this point in time.
All that really mattered was going back to sleep.
He had a big day ahead of him, after all.
[Previous](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/1clev2n/sexy\_steampunk\_babes\_chapter\_twenty\_five/) / [First](https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/187xaj0/sexy\_steampunk\_babes\_chapter\_one/) / Next
**Another three chapters are also available on Patreon:** [**https://www.patreon.com/bluefishcake\*\*\](https://www.patreon.com/bluefishcake)
**We also have a (surprisingly) active Discord where and I and a few other authors like to hang out:** [https://discord.gg/RctHFucHaq\](https://discord.gg/RctHFucHaq)

I commented on a recent thread with a tennis theme. After commenting on tennis form, it got me thinking about a memory from about 7 years ago. My kids did tennis up to high school. To help them get more experience playing , we did a weekly event called match play. The tennis pro would match you with other played around your level. Sometimes higher and sometimes lower. I am about 3.0 level, which is about the borderline between the high school varsity and JV level at the local high school. This one day, there were a lack of players for me. So he paired me with a local high school JV player against the daughter of a fellow tennis pro. She was 12 at the time and ranked number one in the county for her age group. Her partner was the number two player in the country. The entire set, she and the other girl would be together and gossip and giggle. Then they would play and quickly win a point against us, then go back to giggling. It was frustrating, but at the same time, I was admiring their tennis ability. I almost asked for her autograph, just in case she became famous. About a year later, she moved to Florida to focus on her tennis. Anyway, I just looked her up. In 2021 she was ranked 127, then 2022 she was ranked 652 for juniors. Then around 2022-2023, she recently just turned pro and has a 7/19 record. I hope she does well. So I can say that I have played and lost to her when she was 12.
BTW, the tennis pro organizer said his biggest tennis accomplishment was to get the chance to play and lose to John McEnroe.

Chapter 2
Before doing a deep dive into my memory flashes to discover and how and why my life unfolded the way it did I think I’ll do a timeline. This will help me and the reader (if anyone follows along at all) put the pieces in chronological order.
I was born to a teenage mom, a month after she turned 16 and a barely drinking age dad. No memory, so these early years (before the court) will be what I’ve been told.
“Had the perfect family and the mom who adored me”
At two they decided to break up and it was very ugly. My paternal grandparents paid for the best lawyer in all of the state to get my dad custody. He was accused of molesting me (my mom’s argument in court) I don’t know why it was so ugly but during the trial I was placed in a facility and only allowed short visits. Here is an excerpt from their website.
“We are a behavioral health agency specializing in the treatment of families, children and their caregivers who are struggling due to issues of divorce, homelessness, child abuse/neglect, family violence or other crises. Our highly trained staff specializes in trauma-informed treatment methods that create a safe and comfortable environment in which our clients can heal. We serve children, youth and their families struggling with mental and behavioral health issues that impact their success at home, school and in their community.”
I was then allowed to be with my maternal grandparents while the case continued. She had an in home daycare. My grandpa was not by blood. She had divorced my mom’s dad when my mom was just a baby. He was dark and satanic, into satanic rituals and things like that. A biker. And a pedophile. I never knew him.
My dad won the case and my mom lost all custody and was not granted any visitation at all. (And I didn’t see her or speak with her again until I was around 5. Then again at 14. Then again at 16.)I lived with my dad and his parents and siblings and saw maternal grandparents every other weekend.
At three, I went to a private preschool.
At four I attended a public school where my paternal grandma was a principal and my maternal grandma was a teachers aid as well. Here I stayed for preschool through half of second grade.
My grandparents decided they were no longer happy where we were. My grandpa moved to the mountains and my grandma moved to Georgetown in DC to attend the Jesuit college.
My dad met Jennifer (name changed) at this time and we moved into her downtown apartment. I changed schools. Finished my 2nd grade year and half of third grade.
We moved from the apartment back into my childhood home and I changed schools again. Finished my 3rd grade and half of fourth grade at a new school.
Half way through my fourth grade year I was sent to Georgetown with paternal grandma and aunt. My dad and Jennifer stayed at home. We lived in the basement of a multimillion dollar home in the heart of where the wealthy live. Cobblestone streets. Beautiful houses and lots of money. Like from a movie. I went to a very elite small elementary school with only one class per grade. I finished fourth grade and fifth grade here.
The summer of sixth grade my dad had broken up with Jennifer and moved to the mountains with my grandpa. I moved back with them. I went from super ritzy upscale city life with two women, to a small house in the mountains with barely even indoor plumbing with 2 men. The town was small and secluded. Everyone knew everyone type of place. only one elementary school and the middle school was on the same premises of the high school. I was here 6th grade through half of 9th grade. My dad then met Candace (name changed) and moved thirty minutes away to slightly bigger town with her. These years I went every summer to stay with my grandma who had moved from DC to Arlington, VA and lived in crystal city.
Over the summer I was sent to live in New York City with my aunt. When summer was over, we got an apartment in staten island so I could attend school and she commuted to the city everyday by ferry. This school had thousands of kids and seemed like hundreds of classes. This was when 9/11 happened. I was in my language class (Italian) when the news came over the intercom. My auntie worked near the world trade center by only blocks. She made the last ferry out and came to the school, which was on lockdown, for me. I didn’t go back to the city for the remainder of 2001.
In March of 02 my dad came to NY packed us both up and we drove across the country to cali to drop her off then back to southwest. I moved back to the small town with my dad and Candace. And finished the last months of my sophomore year commuting the thirty minutes to my old school. They were a violent and toxic couple so I begged to move back to grandpas in the mountain town.
I changed schools again for my junior year. I went to one of two high schools in the slightly bigger town where my dad and Candace lived. Close to my senior year my dad came to my work one night and said he and Candace had broken up. He had a small apartment. A one bedroom. I was welcome to stay and he would take the couch. He knew 18 was close and he wanted me to live with him before I was out on my own. I did. I met my husband this year as well. He lived close to where I was born. We stayed long distance until I turned 18. When I turned 18, I found a charter school in my original hometown and we got an apartment.
The rest is history. My adult life is another novel of its own and I’m exhausted.
I fear posting this. If anyone were to come across it by chance they would know immediately it was me. And the memories I hope to uncover are to humiliating and intense and known by no one. I have never spoke about them to anyone. The other obvious issue is if in fact I was a victim in mkultra/child trafficking, it automatically implies my family must have had some kind of knowledge. Which would imply they did this to me. And if it’s not true everything I write and all the memory flashes are just me being a slut and having zero self worth. It would be that I’m was the problem the entire time.
And why did I never finish a school year any where? Lol
No, maybe this is a mistake. Maybe everything is better left unsaid and uncovered. I’m exhausted now.

Chapter 2
Before doing a deep dive into my memory flashes to discover and how and why my life unfolded the way it did I think I’ll do a timeline. This will help me and the reader (if anyone follows along at all) put the pieces in chronological order.
I was born to a teenage mom, a month after she turned 16 and a barely drinking age dad. No memory, so these early years (before the court) will be what I’ve been told.
“Had the perfect family and the mom who adored me”
At two they decided to break up and it was very ugly. My paternal grandparents paid for the best lawyer in all of the state to get my dad custody. He was accused of molesting me (my mom’s argument in court) I don’t know why it was so ugly but during the trial I was placed in a facility and only allowed short visits. Here is an excerpt from their website.
“We are a behavioral health agency specializing in the treatment of families, children and their caregivers who are struggling due to issues of divorce, homelessness, child abuse/neglect, family violence or other crises. Our highly trained staff specializes in trauma-informed treatment methods that create a safe and comfortable environment in which our clients can heal. We serve children, youth and their families struggling with mental and behavioral health issues that impact their success at home, school and in their community.”
I was then allowed to be with my maternal grandparents while the case continued. She had an in home daycare. My grandpa was not by blood. She had divorced my mom’s dad when my mom was just a baby. He was dark and satanic, into satanic rituals and things like that. A biker. And a pedophile. I never knew him.
My dad won the case and my mom lost all custody and was not granted any visitation at all. (And I didn’t see her or speak with her again until I was around 5. Then again at 14. Then again at 16.)I lived with my dad and his parents and siblings and saw maternal grandparents every other weekend.
At three, I went to a private preschool.
At four I attended a public school where my paternal grandma was a principal and my maternal grandma was a teachers aid as well. Here I stayed for preschool through half of second grade.
My grandparents decided they were no longer happy where we were. My grandpa moved to the mountains and my grandma moved to Georgetown in DC to attend the Jesuit college.
My dad met Jennifer (name changed) at this time and we moved into her downtown apartment. I changed schools. Finished my 2nd grade year and half of third grade.
We moved from the apartment back into my childhood home and I changed schools again. Finished my 3rd grade and half of fourth grade at a new school.
Half way through my fourth grade year I was sent to Georgetown with paternal grandma and aunt. My dad and Jennifer stayed at home. We lived in the basement of a multimillion dollar home in the heart of where the wealthy live. Cobblestone streets. Beautiful houses and lots of money. Like from a movie. I went to a very elite small elementary school with only one class per grade. I finished fourth grade and fifth grade here.
The summer of sixth grade my dad had broken up with Jennifer and moved to the mountains with my grandpa. I moved back with them. I went from super ritzy upscale city life with two women, to a small house in the mountains with barely even indoor plumbing with 2 men. The town was small and secluded. Everyone knew everyone type of place. only one elementary school and the middle school was on the same premises of the high school. I was here 6th grade through half of 9th grade. My dad then met Candace (name changed) and moved thirty minutes away to slightly bigger town with her. These years I went every summer to stay with my grandma who had moved from DC to Arlington, VA and lived in crystal city.
Over the summer I was sent to live in New York City with my aunt. When summer was over, we got an apartment in staten island so I could attend school and she commuted to the city everyday by ferry. This school had thousands of kids and seemed like hundreds of classes. This was when 9/11 happened. I was in my language class (Italian) when the news came over the intercom. My auntie worked near the world trade center by only blocks. She made the last ferry out and came to the school, which was on lockdown, for me. I didn’t go back to the city for the remainder of 2001.
In March of 02 my dad came to NY packed us both up and we drove across the country to cali to drop her off then back to southwest. I moved back to the small town with my dad and Candace. And finished the last months of my sophomore year commuting the thirty minutes to my old school. They were a violent and toxic couple so I begged to move back to grandpas in the mountain town.
I changed schools again for my junior year. I went to one of two high schools in the slightly bigger town where my dad and Candace lived. Close to my senior year my dad came to my work one night and said he and Candace had broken up. He had a small apartment. A one bedroom. I was welcome to stay and he would take the couch. He knew 18 was close and he wanted me to live with him before I was out on my own. I did. I met my husband this year as well. He lived close to where I was born. We stayed long distance until I turned 18. When I turned 18, I found a charter school in my original hometown and we got an apartment.
The rest is history. My adult life is another novel of its own and I’m exhausted.
I fear posting this. If anyone were to come across it by chance they would know immediately it was me. And the memories I hope to uncover are to humiliating and intense and known by no one. I have never spoke about them to anyone. The other obvious issue is if in fact I was a victim in mkultra/child trafficking, it automatically implies my family must have had some kind of knowledge. Which would imply they did this to me. And if it’s not true everything I write and all the memory flashes are just me being a slut and having zero self worth. It would be that I’m was the problem the entire time.
And why did I never finish a school year any where? Lol
No, maybe this is a mistake. Maybe everything is better left unsaid and uncovered. I’m exhausted now.

I (17F) have a group of friends (all 17F) that been together since middle school. There was this one girl who is somewhat apart of my friend group that is really nice and pretty to me, we've been friends since freshman year of high school and at that time I didn't really know my sexuality and that specific friend (let's call her Elize) helped me figure it out by taking me out on dates and even went far as making out with me.
Now we are juniors and Elize has recently gotten a girlfriend and this might sound selfish of me but around the time she got in the relationship my feelings for her started to rise up. Her partner is really nice to me and I would never do anything to hurt her or both of them period..
One of my friends noticed that I have been distancing myself away from Elize and my friend group and invited me to go to a restaurant with Elize, her girlfriend, my 3 other friends, and their partners too. When the night ended my friend (let's call her Lucy) started texting me and basically attacking me in some way.
I was confused because the whole night I was quiet and didn't really feel that I belonged there since it was basically a date night for them (im single T.T) so when I texted her back she was telling me that " was looking at her in some way" and that "it's obvious but she doesn't know" and proceeded to say that im an A-hole.
Am I? I don't want to get in between Elize and her relationship and I never intended too. They don't let me attach pictures so I'll write down the text.
L: yo why did you look at E like that?
Me: lol like what?🥴
L: she's taken so don't even think about it...
Me: i wasn't thinking about anything, what ru on?
L: bffr, she dosent know but i can tell.!
Me: im not doing nothing L, we r just friends. 😭
L: okay, just to let you know that's a as*hole move your doing you know damn well she's taken. weirdo
Me: what? I swear im not doing anything.? if it bothers you so much then I'll stop hanging out with her?
L: yea cuz your like making her uncomfortable or something
Me: did she say that?
L: no.
Me: then wtf r u talking about?😭😭

I'll go first...
Oh man, let me get into this one. Yall should sit back get a drink and a snack this is going to be fun.
So back in 2010 on a mighty little FFG we were on our 3rd Med Cruise in the last 2 years and our female XO just kinda went off the deep end.
We were in Oman during Ramadan so that means no drinking out in town, so 3 days of beer on the pier. On the first night the XO got blitzed by like 7pm and she got in the mood if you know what I mean. By 9pm she had sexually assaulted 3 of our more fit junior Sailors. The tamest was just ass grabbing and the worst was full on down the shirt into the shorts grabbing. (STG2 later was crying in his rack saying it was like his grandma molesting him). XO was in her 50s at that time as she was a prior enlisted. Anyways our 3MC later that night was feeling what she was putting down and they proceed to make their way back onboard grab something from the chiefs mess, make out in that little alcove outside the chiefs mess and the galley, and get caught and video taped by the bread cooks, cause guess what only one door in and out of the galley. (Later found out that the bread cook sent the video home to his wife). XO and 3MC make their way up to the XO cabin and a glorious night together.
That is till the CO wakes them up the next morning. Both of them get 30 days restriction to the ship. XO also gets the start of an NCIS investigation at this time as well. (Remember that video that got sent back stateside well that thing turned to fire and spread faster than dry trees going up in Cali. It all accumulated during an FRG meeting when the 3MCs wife finally learned what happened. Let just say 3MC spent the next 5 years on a ship cause he was beyond broke after she was done with him.)
So anyways 30 days pass and we pull into Gaeta Italy, and NCIS show up to do their stuff which bad for the XO but good for us as our 3 day visit turns into 2 weeks. XO somehow talks her way into getting to go out into town, but she has to be escorted. Good ol JORG is about to have his world f@×ked, an hour into being escorted the XO has to use the restroom and is just gone. This dude waited an hour in the restaurant for her to come back before freaking out and spending the next 6 hours roaming the streets for her. JORG comes back onboard about 9 pm sobbing about how he can't find the XO and the CO is going to kill him. When some guys come back onboard and ask the OOD why the XO was on a German Oiler? So the CDO, MA1, and the JORG head up the pier to the Oiler to retrieve the XO. They get on the Oiler and head to the O-mess where the XO is yet again smashed. CDO tries to get her up and drag her out when she loses her shit, cussed them out, and told them to get the fuck off she is the XO and she is staying the night on the Oiler. She STAYED THE NIGHT.
NCIS meets her the next morning on the ship, and they are done with her shit. She is confined to the ship again and is going to be escorted off the ship by them tomorrow morning straight to the airport and back stateside. I get off the OOD watch at 0400 and head up to the shop on the 02 level leaving the door open so I can get cell service. So at 0500 here comes NCIS pass the door and bang on the XOs door. They try to open it and she has it locked from the other side. She is yelling at them that she just got out of the shower and she isn't quite ready yet and to give her 30 min. NCIS is yelling back to get out now. They leave to go smoke about 20 min they come back start banging on the door and the XO still won't open the door. Now NCIS is screaming at her that if she doesn't get the door open now they will cut it off the hinges. A bit after 0600 here comes HT1 walking past the shop door with a shit eating grin on his face and tells me this is about to be the best day of his life. Gets to the XOs door plugs in the torch, puts his gear on and proceeds to cut the hinges off the door. With a pull and a crash there goes the door. What was susposed to have been a quiet walk off is now gone and NCIS is now pulling and dragging a kicking XO off the ship as she is screaming she is the XO and she isn't leaving.
Icing on the cake they missed their flight. Anyways she got back stateside and got forced retired out.

This is a long one so here’s some context first. I (17M) am the DM for a D&D campaign that’s been going on for a few months now. I previously DMed for a couple of campaigns back in my sophomore year for the same D&D group consisting of 5 people (including me). We all studied at the same High School and most of us know each other IRL. The two we’re focusing on is Kelly and Jake.
Kelly has been one of my closest friends since freshman year and studied in the same class as me. She applied for an exchange program to Europe during junior year which meant she had to repeat her year while I moved on to senior year. Meanwhile, Jake is our senior and befriended Kelly when she was a sophomore. I got to know Jake when Kelly invited him into our D&D group in the same year. We took a break from playing during my sophomore year because of the painful amount of work I had to manage (along with Kelly’s exchange program and Jake applying for university.)
Fast forward, I just graduated senior year of HS and spent time planning another campaign which everyone was down with. With a few sessions in, everything was going smoothly. Better than I had hoped. Suddenly, Jake texted me out of the blue saying that he had “inconveniences” and apologized for not being able to continue playing with us anymore. I obviously felt disappointed but I couldn’t judge him. I assumed he had some stuff to deal with at uni and told him that it was fine. I told Kelly the news, and what she told me left me SHOCKED. It turns out that the reason Jake left the campaign is because he has a crush on Kelly. And here’s the problem. JAKE ALREADY HAS A GIRLFRIEND in university. He told Kelly that he has to take a break from talking to her which effectively ended 3 years of friendship between them. Kelly told me she felt terrible about herself so I spent the evening comforting her through texts, saying that I’ve been in a situation like this before. I continued talking to Jake like nothing was wrong because he doesn’t know that I know the truth yet. The rest of the group and I decided to cancel the rest of the campaign, partly because the story wouldn’t flow well without Jake’s character but mainly because I think Kelly really needs some time and space for herself.
All of this feels so messy and depressing. I think I’ve done the most I can to comfort Kelly but she doesn’t seem to be getting better. I don’t want her to spend HS senior year being miserable. Is there anything else I can do?

22 M, and 21 M
As previously said I have been knowing since last fall, we started off very flirty and hitting up each other ever so casually complementing how we looked. One thing led to another and after a month of talking of which would lead to November, we chose to have intimate relationships. Now I didn’t realize this sooner, but this would lead to me filling clung on to this individual, ever since then I would not try to showcase how I felt until just about recently back in January when I couldn’t hold it any longer since we would hang out almost everyday and go out and study, grab coffee, etc. even when going to bars, we’d casually make out and such. Nonetheless, when I did came clean with how I felt, more context - I was a senior, and he was a junior during this time, I basically was told that they were not ready for something serious and should just keep things as friends with benefits. I attempted to do but after admitting such feeling the feelings of attachment grew stronger. And we’d casually get jealous of each other if we ever caught each other talking to someone and or talking to someone else in a public scene in front of each other.
Ergo this had me confused, since wasn’t I the one that was friend zone, and if so such scenarios should not even play out. Nonetheless that goes without saying that I have not been in the dating pool bc of it in order to showcase respect. But we are also both still in dating apps, without care of each other knowing.
What should I do now that I’ve graduated already?

I just read a post that reminded me of this story and thought I would share. For context my Mom is 65 and I love her a lot but she is a born again Christian and a MAGA nut... although unlike most she actually respects me when I told her that her beliefs are not my beliefs and if she tries pushing them on me I will quit talking to her. So we don't discuss religion or politics. Our relationship mostly focuses around football (Chiefs Kingdom!).
Anyway, growing up I was not what you would call a good student. Hated school with a passion, hated homework, rarely did it. Up through middle school it was fine, I did well on tests and generally passed classes with a C, with the exception of math which I actually had to work on and barely passed.
Obviously according to my parents I was lazy, stupid, and just not applying myself. I told them it was boring and I hated doing it and it was stupid because I could pass the tests.
High school rolls around, more of the same. Junior year I learn I can leave the school at lunch and they will not notify my parents. Hard to pass when you aren't actually there so I failed most of my classes that year. Due to this I had to take extra classes my senior year so I could graduate with my class.
3 extra classes both semesters. These were all college level classes. I spent my senior year an honor roll student. School was actually a challenge now.
Before the school year started my Mom told me that if she was going to pay for the extra classes then I had better apply myself. I said okay, and I did. Halfway through the school year she looks at me and out of nowhere asks "Are you gay?". I look at her gob smacked and tell her no and ask why. Her reasoning was that I didn't go out with any of my female friends any more and I only hung out with a male friend who rode to a night class with me.
So that was bad enough. Cut to earlier this year we were talking about that period of time and I brought up her asking if I was gay. She now swears that never happened. Even with my sister backing me up because she was there my Mom swears up and down she never thought I was gay and never asked that.
According to her I also don't have ADHD, I'm not bi-polar, it's my fault I deal with depression. She does however agree that I have PTSD from my first marriage.
I love her but sometimes I just have to shake my head.

Flaired sensitive bcoz stalking is a serious topic.
I'm sorry I couldn't find a better source than koreaboo: https://www.koreaboo.com/news/idol-trainees-leading-stalkers-police-station-viral/
Two idol trainees gained popularity after a video surfaced showing them being followed by a sasaeng. The trainees eventually led the sasaeng straight to the police station [WHAT A BOSS MOVE] in the video, which went viral. The sasaeng also catches on to their plan, AND STILL FOLLOWS THEM.
Sasaeng in the video: "Police station? What’s the meaning of this? No. Ah, ah. What’s the deal with bringing me here?"
The idol trainees are from TF Entertainment, namely Zuo Qihan and Zhang Guiyuan, and are only 14 years old... the actual video was taken back on February 17 btw.

I want to change careers, I was working as a freelancers recruiter, burned out, it’s been months and I still don’t want to go back.
I have always wanted to become entrepreneur, so I want to learn about working with clients, become better at communication and persuasion.
At first I considered sales , but it felt more stressful and uncertain. The last thing I want is to burnout again. I know account management is tough as well , but for some reason it feels less pressure to me because you work with existing clients .
The idea to go to sales / account management came to when I was listening to a webinar from recruitment agency and they were discussing objections from clients and how to handle them which also got me interested.
My problem is my resume and story.
How do I explain career change ? I need help with story, any ideas? My story story doesn’t sound right to me .
Also any tips for interview questions for junior account?

TLDR: Experience in DevOps and product. Founder for 2 years, now shutting down. Want to create my own company in the next years. Right now can work on consulting sales, marketing or delivery. What should I pick?
Hello everyone. I'm looking for some suggestion and perspective on my current situation.
I've worked within a cloud consulting company for the last 10 years and built two SaaS software from scratch because they wanted to break into product (done everything here except frontend).
2 years ago I got the opportunity to become co-founder of a spinoff of this company with a new software and moved from a strictly tech position to operations. So I wrote a lot less code and moved to deal with organizing work, product and company strategy, communication, sales and so on (unofficially I've been doing this since 2020, I'm a bit rusty but getting back pretty quickly).
The product we were building was taking off, but was shut down, and now I'm being offered to become part again of the mother company. I am free to choose but the main options are:

• go into the sales team: it's a lot more like account management, I have some experience in it but for product - junior position
• go into the marketing team: write content, deal with speechs, experiment with some projects for sales and make the company website content - senior position
• go into the delivery team: write code, infrastructure and help organize the work, probably moving to technical program manager in a year or so - senior position

I searched for some other opportunity (product manager, developer relations and so on) outside but never heard back from the companies I sent the resume to.
I want to create my own company in a few years (can't right now due to financial reasons) so I want to get into something that can give me the experience to go there eventually.
In your opinion what could be the best route? There's something I'm missing?

Or slow to respond, or don’t respond at all?
I’ve engaged a firm to help with a thing (vague because not relevant plus personal) and I met with them for the first time at the end of January. There’s technically two separate things I need help with, so they assigned me two separate solicitors. I met with one of the senior partners and one of the juniors who will be directly helping me.
It’s been over three months since our meeting and only in the last week has the solicitor sent me forms that need to be filled in, while the other solicitor hasn’t even started looking at my case. I’ve sent emails to both solicitors and the senior partner for updates every few weeks which have gone largely unanswered.
I call sporadically and speak with the reception staff or the solicitors paralegal and everyone is always in meetings and will allegedly “call me back” but they never do. The weird thing is that I have family connections to this firm and I was assured they would look after me but I feel like I’m being completely blown off.
Is there any way to actually get these people to return my calls or emails, answer my questions, or actually do any work on my cases? I can’t do what needs to be done without them and I don’t want to be overly annoying but it’s gone on for so long already I don’t know what to do.

Me (M22) and Zack(24M, we'll call him this for the sake of anonimity) have been sort of best friends for about 4 years.
We'we had what you'd call a really dynamic friendship. We've met in school and gotten close really quick. Most of the times when I needed help Zack helped me (when he wasn't in the mood would simply tell me to f*** off, whereas I never refused to help him). We spent holidays at each other's houses, like Christmas or Easter, parents saw us as part of the family on either side (we're from different cities).
Anyway, we've had lots of ups and downs, with not respecting certain boundaries. I've told him on countless times not to call me certain names (swear words) or other things, but he'd keep doing it because "that's how you are bro, there's nothing I can do". I always tried to respect his boundaries and take him serious when saying something disturbs him etc. For example, when meeting people he knew, he'd always make fun of me in front of them in a really disrespectful manner, which I've given up on telling him that I don't want to do that and it's crossing some boundaries. Whenever I did to him he would throw a big tantrum and I always had to apologize. I've never heard an apology from him for nothing he did.
Two weeks ago, he made me call a friend of mine he knows too because we needed another person for something we were trying to do. He randomly left without saying anything when that friend almost arrived (mind you, that friend, not Zack, had to go to work the next day). I told him it puts me in a bad light and to come the f*** back. He told me to shut up anyway, because "you're idolizing me".
Since then I've cut out all contact and told him I'm not idolizing anyone. He tried to call me a few times and sent me a DM saying to talk because he doesn't like not talking to me. Still no apology was said. I left him on read.
I tried portraying it as objective as I can. It might sound like it's not, but he was acting in that way all the time, while I've never done anything like that, and I only answered back when he did things first (not so bad as him, and I always apologized).
AITAH for ending things? He usually left me emotionally drained and feeling like sh*t.

I’m currently finishing my junior year in Electrical Engineering at a state school (not a great one and most of the professors are mediocre) and I have the chance to start my masters during my senior year which would allow me to finish it 1 year earlier than probably anywhere else. I’m debating wether I should stick with that track, or finish my bachelor’s and go to a much better school; and if I do take that second route, are my chances any good at getting into a great school.
For some background, about a decade ago I went to college, majored in biology, and it did not go well. I wasted a lot time. I then joined the Navy for 6 years and worked as a nuclear tech on a sub. Shortly after I got out of the military, I got an awesome opportunity to work as a long term Product Development Engineer Intern at Intel while getting my degree. I was incredibly scared as my first day of school and and my first day as an intern were the same and I didn’t know if I could even manage it. By some miracle (or just the absolute fear that I’m going to be a failure) I’m at year 2 now, the internship is going great, I love the work and the people (for the most part), I have a 3.92 gpa (since I’ve been back in school and taking no summer course breaks) while averaging 40-50 hrs per week at work (with a solid list of projects under my belt), and for about half of those 2 years I was also a reservist in the Navy. However, given that I screwed the pooch so badly my first time in college, my cumulative gps as of right now is a 2.9.
With that in mind, would it be worth trying to go for a better school? Do I have a shot? Is getting the masters here, which I’m guaranteed to get into, a solid path, or could I been doing more?

I’m currently finishing my junior year in Electrical Engineering at a state school (not a great one and most of the professors are mediocre) and I have the chance to start my masters during my senior year which would allow me to finish it 1 year earlier than probably anywhere else. I’m debating wether I should stick with that track, or finish my bachelor’s and go to a much better school; and if I do take that second route, are my chances any good at getting into a great school.
For some background, about a decade ago I went to college, majored in biology, and it did not go well. I wasted a lot time. I then joined the Navy for 6 years and worked as a nuclear tech on a sub. Shortly after I got out of the military, I got an awesome opportunity to work as a long term Product Development Engineer Intern at Intel while getting my degree. I was incredibly scared as my first day of school and and my first day as an intern were the same and I didn’t know if I could even manage it. By some miracle (or just the absolute fear that I’m going to be a failure) I’m at year 2 now, the internship is going great, I love the work and the people (for the most part), I have a 3.92 gpa (since I’ve been back in school and taking no summer course breaks) while averaging 40-50 hrs per week at work (with a solid list of projects under my belt), and for about half of those 2 years I was also a reservist in the Navy. However, given that I screwed the pooch so badly my first time in college, my cumulative gps as of right now is a 2.9.
With that in mind, would it be worth trying to go for a better school? Do I have a shot? Is getting the masters here, which I’m guaranteed to get into, a solid path, or could I been doing more?

Hey guys, title basically sums it up. There's plenty of info on this for permanent workers, but not contract, so I'm wondering if anyone can share some advice or thoughts.
I'm in a two-year contract role at a financial services firm in Asia. I wasn't aware that it was contract nor that the official job title would be different from what was advertised on LinkedIn up until they gave a verbal offer. During the call, I tried to negotiate a title change, but relented because everyone else on the team was 10+ years older than me and they were still waiting for formal approvals to go through, so I was scared of pushing too hard in case they took back the offer.
It's been almost a year now and I'm performing very well. My manager always tells me that she's heard "nothing but good things" about me, and my big boss is pleased as well. I know I'm doing way better than the person who held this job before me, so I want to ask for a title change from "Junior XXX" to "Associate XXX". My position is a fairly new headcount, so I feel like there could be some room for negotiation. The title I want to ask for is still different from the rest of my teammates, so I feel like it's reasonable. Next month will be my one-year anniversary at the company - once that has passed, should I find an opportunity to talk to my manager about it?
I really think I deserve a title change. I'm basically a perm worker in all but name, but I'm a bit nervous about pushing things in case I piss anyone off. Also, there has been a fair amount of internal politics going on in the company (not directly in my team), so I'm aware that it might be completely out of their control. I just really want "Junior" taken out of my title.
What do you guys think?