Pomes and jokes for hen night

I (F20) have been dating my bf (M19) for 3 years now, we recently moved in together since we're going to college together. We're both avid gamers, so we each have our own PC setups. His is setup in our bedroom, mine is setup in our living room.
(This also means that when he is gaming i cannot sleep. he gets too loud and he gets pretty upset if he loses his games. it also doesnt help that he is constantly in a discord VC)
A couple of nights ago I was glancing over to see how his games were going and he got a DM from a girl, I knew it was a girl because her gamertag had "Girl" in the name, and when I asked about her later, he confirmed it for me. I try to not get too concerned about this, but after his last game he had a heart sent to him in game. I jokingly said to him "wow so you're cheating on me with a girl and guys" which made him go quiet for a second, followed by laughing, and then him brushing it off. "she was just asking to play the game with me, she's bad and needs carried. but i said no."
I believed him up until today when I was gathering clothes for laundry, and he was taking a shower. I got curious and decided to snoop a little bit, which admittedly probably wasn't the right thing to do, but I looked anyways. He deleted all DMs with her, and unadded her I'm guessing since I saw no trace of her.
This whole thing has been making me feel icky since I found out about the girl, it might just be me overthinking, but I had an issue like this in high school.
Would I be the asshole for telling how I think of his actions as a red flag? (open to answering questions in the comments)

“Get the fuck out of my house with this ‘ old country’ shit Sylvia, I’m serious. “ I hear my dad say from the kitchen downstairs.
“I give children and idiots three warnings. That’s your first. “ It takes me a second to recognize my aunt’s voice. I’ve only met her a handful of times, and it’s nearly 2am.
“Syl, he’s right, this is crazy. I’m Roma, I’m proud, but your part of the family, and mine are two separate things. “ My mom interjects. Her voice is calm and level.
I woke up about half way through whatever is going on, and I’m fuzzy on the details, but everyone involved is three kinds of pissed.
“So you say, but just because you ignore the other side, doesn’t mean the other side ignores you. “ Aunt Syl replies, I could never quite place her accent, but it makes her statement all the more sinister.
“Might as well make that the family motto.
Syl, there are a couple dozen other kids Nikolas’ age in the family. Half of which are already hip deep in whatever is going on nowadays, you don’t need him. “ Mom isn’t pleading, but I can hear she’s worried.
“Why are we trying to reason with your crazy aunt? Time to go Syl. “ My dad isn’t worried, he’s angry.
“That’s two. “ Aunt Sylvia replies.
I hear a chair squeak then fall to the floor.
“That’s three. “ Sylvia says, her voice is cold, and I swear I could almost hear an echo.
I can hear my dad start to quietly cough, he sounds like he’s trying to talk but can’t. My heart starts to race, I don’t understand what’s going on, but I know it’s bad.
“Syl! Jesus Christ, that’s my husband. “ Mom sounds more offended than scared now. I wish I could say the same.
I stand next to my cracked door, fear beginning to take hold.
I can hear my dad start to take long wheezing breaths, I have no idea if this is a good or bad thing.
“Happy?
Now that any hope of doing this quietly is over, Nikolas and I have a long drive ahead of us. He’s 16, he has a license, yes? “ I hear Sylvia say, sudden footsteps walking up the stairs.
“No, he’s not interested in driving. You can’t take him Syl. “ my mom sounds frantic, Sylvia’s steps are measured and heavy.
“Not interested? You sure we are related? You raise soft children. “ Sylvia ends this with a dismissive laugh.
The few minutes that followed were kind of a blur, with my mom trying to convince me that I was just going to visit family, as if I didn’t just hear everything.
It's a couple hours into a long drive in a small car when my brain finally catches up to the fact that I’m awake, and going 30 miles an hour over the speed limit.
Aunt Syl sits in the driver’s seat, she’s 40 something, olive skinned with pitch-colored hair. Her style, it’s, something.
Her outfit was the middle of a Venn diagram of hippie, punk rock and carpenter. Bracelets, flannel, paisley, and enough piercings I lost count.
“Any chance of putting both hands on the wheel? “ I say, I’m mad, but I don’t even really know why.
She holds up her left arm, and I’m shocked. It’s an ancient looking blued steel prosthetic. She flexes, the clawed, almost mitten-like hand.
“Go through too many steering wheels that way. “ She says with a smirk.
“What’s going on? “ I ask, after an agonizing fifteen minutes of silence.
“You’re a big boy, so if you want the truth, I’ll give it to you. There’s a job that needs to be done, a dangerous job. And I want you to do it.
Now, I want you, not because you’re strong, or smart, or special. We have many strong, smart, special boys.
You, I want, because you’re unknown, and, little one, disposable. “ Sylvia lets this comment hang like rotten fruit.
The next hour goes in silence, at no point do I even entertain the notion this is some kind of joke. Something about this woman’s energy, about the way she carries herself, it scares the shit out of me.
We board a plane, somehow she had all of my travel documents. Even stranger is that we get escorted past the security checkpoints, into first class.
The next words I say to Sylvia are, “You have to put that out! “ as she lights up a short, yellow, hand-rolled cigarette.
She grins, taking a long drag, it smells horrible, the cheapest roughest tobacco odor I’ve encountered.
She relaxes, a cloud of thick, grey smoke forming.
I’m stunned, not a single person says anything. At first I think maybe she’s some kind of, I don’t know, mobster or something.
But that isn’t quite right. No one is looking at her in fear, no one is telling anyone else not to say anything. It’s like no one notices what she’s doing.
“How does she do this? The little boy wonders.
I don’t come offering you a thankless task Nik. I come with an opportunity. “ Sylvia says before crushing the cigarette on the arm of a chair and tossing it into the isle.
I had questions, and between the fear and the confusion I asked every one of them.
The only response she gave me was, “You’ll see when we get there. “.
She was right.
The flight lands, and after an hour or so of driving the world’s oldest pickup through the English countryside, we wind up at an old farm house, in the middle of nowhere outside of Hammersmith.
The sign outside says “ Gritt Auctions” the letters are old, bronze and tarnished, the grounds are littered with car parts, statues, and errata of every type.
Dozens, maybe even a hundred people mill about each stopping for a moment to give a suspicious look at the interloper in their midst.
Sylvia seems amused at my nervousness. I try and give the rough looking folks around me as much space as I can.
“They’re family, mostly, by blood or marriage, with a handful of lost souls and hangers on. “ She explains.
I probably should have guessed, seeing my mom’s family name on the sign, but my brain is basically nothing more than fear, anxiety and jet lag at this point.
“When do I get to know what’s going on? “ I say, waving at a cousin of some form and receive a uniquely English rude gesture in return.
My ear is ringing, and I stumble , the left side of my face burning. I’d say Syl slapped me, but it was more of a polite punch.
“Don’t whine. You’ve been stolen from your mother, treated like a dog, and judging by Robert’s attitude, rejected by your family.
I don’t want to hear whining, you angry, soft boy? “ Sylvia stops and turns toward me. I notice the people around us stop their tasks, interested in our conversation.
“No… “ I begin, not wanting to piss her off.
I don’t even see the next slap, but it puts me on my ass.
“Next one’s with the left hand.
Are you angry Nikolas? “ Sylvia looms over me like a raven.
I feel something before I get to my feet, a hot, quick flash of hatred. A context free rage at the fucked up situation I’m in.
“Answer is still no. Because to be angry, I’d have to know a God-Damned thing about what’s going on.
But my lunatic aunt just picked me up and now I’m standing in the middle of whatever the English equivalent to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family is.
For all I know, I’m your new King. So no, I’m not angry, I’m annoyed, and maybe a bit worried my gene pool really needs some chlorine. “ I’m shocked at what I’m saying, but I see some smiles, hear a few laughs.
Sylvia’s face seems to soften slightly.
“There’s the Gritt in you. “ She says, starting to walk to an old barn.
I catch up to her as I attempt in vain to dust myself off.
Sylvia opens a small, strangely modern looking door, inside a row of lights automatically flip on.
In contrast to the rotten wood exterior, the inside of the barn looks modern, design wise it’s half way between a hospital and a car repair shop. Equipment of unknown purpose, gurneys and cages of all sizes and types surround me.
Sylvia walks to a door at the back, then pauses.
“Before I open this door, you need to understand something.
There is no fortune telling, or reading of cards here. The cloak of the traveller, the bangles of the gypsy, these are all ways of navigating the world to us. Ways to exist on the fringes of society.
The Gritt family, we trade in the unknown. We find, we collect, and we sell. And ours is no petty collection of trinkets and tools not meant for the hands of man.
Our grift, is livestock. “
The woman opens the door, and what I see, sitting, chained in one corner of the industrial cement walled cell shakes everything I thought I knew about reality.
He's six and a half feet tall, his skin a waxy yellow, and every spare inch is festooned with black stitching, rusted pieces of metal or small splinters of bone.
His face is noseless and asymmetrical, almost as if repaired or modified over and over. One eye is a small, sinister looking orb with a red pupil, the other a massive, almost reptilian thing, wildly twitching about.
He wears no shirt, but a long, grey hide Trenchcoat hangs down to his knees. I start to shake as I see it’s made from layers of stitched human skin.
He sneers at us, long, conical teeth catch the harsh halogen light.
The thing strains against the chains, but they bind him tightly enough to the wall he can barely move.
“You’re not lasting more than 4 seconds kid. Just turn the fuck around. I’ll have you slitting your wrists in the corner by nightfall. “ The thing says, it’s voice is foul, almost a physical force. Grating, rage filled, and with a lunatic edge to it that makes me question exactly how much those chains can take.
“ 3/10, Augustus, who do you think you are scaring with that limp dick of a threat? “ Sylvia says, confidently walking up to the creature.
It snaps it’s jaws with a sound like a rifle shot. No where near Sylvia, but enough to make me jump on the other side of the room.
“If I could stop being threatened and hearing my aunt talk about dicks, I’d be a huge fan. “ I say, something deep within me, pushing past the fear and lack of sleep, “And if anything feels like just telling me what’s going on instead of being vague and creepy, even better. “
The chained thing looks to me, curious. Sylvia smirks.
“Augustus is going to be forced to fight others like him until eventually he gets what’s coming to him for years of evil.
You, are going to stand next to him while he does it. “ Sylvia begins to walk away from the thing, ignoring vile threats of both the violent and carnal variety.
I try to follow her out the door and she blocks me.
“If your still sane and alive in the morning, I was right. Good luck soft boy. “ She says before closing the heavy metal door.
Without her, I feel tiny, that spark of rage is snuffed out and replaced with a cold sense of dread.
“You’re going to have to turn around sometime kid. “ The chained creature says.
I turn, slowly, resolving to make eye contact with the thing. I manage a second or two before looking away, the creature cackles, mocking me.
“Holy shit, they sent me an honest to God pussy. Whole family full of void fucked apes and they send me you?
The best part is, you don’t even get it. I can see what you’re thinking kid, I can see that tiny collection of hormones and goo you vainly call a brain going into overdrive trying to figure this out… “ Augustus starts.
The creature kept going, I don’t have an exact count but it was at least twelve hours.
I can only describe it as a verbal assault. Augustus drew from some dark wells, how it knew half of the things it did scared me as much as it’s clawed hands or, piranha-like teeth.
I lost something that night. The fears that thing drug up, the insecurities it played on, the secrets it knew, it crushed any childlike notions of safety or understanding the world I had.
Don’t take that the wrong way, I don’t mean it toughened me up. It broke any sense of confidence I had, took away any feeling of safety. That God Damned thing in the trenchcoat, changed me.
I’ve lost track of how long it’s been since I’ve slept, but I’m brought a tin plate heaped with eggs, sausage and for some twisted reason, brown beans. And realize it’s been at least a day since I’ve eaten.
I sit around an abused, graffiti carved picnic table with an eclectic combination of family I’ve never met. Syl sips a tea I can smell from ten feet away and looks at me like I’m a used car.
“I’m always right soft boy. Remember that. “ She says.
It takes a half dozen guys built like construction workers, with Sylvia following behind whispering things that wilt vegetation, to wrangle the creature into the back of an old, reinforced horse trailer.
The inside is covered in totems, runes, and other spooky looking errata. The entity becomes sluggish and disoriented as the heavy wooden doors close, and get sealed with a massive brass lock.
My mind begins to wander on the three hour trip through the back country of the UK. The sun sets, and my brain screams for sleep. That scream is silenced by the sense of mounting dread as we get closer to our destination.
We pull up to an abandoned theme restaurant, the parking lot is full, the windows are boarded, and the walls covered in graffiti. The place is huge, more the size of a small stadium than a diner.
The parking lot is full, the sputtering, sparking neon sign flashes “Faron’s Funhouse. “
It’s a few minutes outside of a town I forgot to catch the name of. We can see lights on the horizon, but there’s a feeling of wrong surrounding the building that makes them seem a million miles away.
A half dozen ‘cousins’ of mine move Augustus into a strange, almost coffin-like box made of wood, steel and glass, covered in trinkets and symbols. The thing sneers groggily from within, it’s mismatched eyes rolling in it’s skull.
I don’t hear Sylvia approach, I notice her as she smacks me in the back of the head hard enough to make my ears ring. The old, cruel woman is walking toward the doors of this meeting place.
“Eyes forward, sneer on your face, and walk like you know where you’re going. “ Are her only instructions.
For once, they’re clear and simple. What I see inside easily keeps my attention, and I’m equal parts scared and pissed off, so looking edgy and miserable is my default state.
At one point, this place was exactly what you’d think. I know you’re all expecting it to be a run down, rat infested haunted house now, but it was, stranger than that.
The place was well kept on the inside, but everything was either in use or repurposed to house the couple hundred eclectic customers milling around. In the centre, is a massive Lucite Cube, crystal clear and housing a ball pit, jungle gym and what looks to be a functional canteen, complete with a deep fryer and popcorn machine. It’s a couple hundred meters a side, and shaped like a flawed rectangle.
Smoke hangs in the air, my aunt greets old friends in a handful of different languages, I smile and nod, still trying to understand what the hell this place is.
We see Augustus being wheeled to the Lucite box, Sylvia cuts a laughing Cyrillic conversation short, and her and I make our way to the box that barely restrains the hatred and death inside.
At the other end of the Lucite Cube I see a few people dressed in blue and maroon uniforms ( if I were to guess vintage, from when this place served shitty food instead of violence.), they surround a massive, hulking, lanky thing. It’s obscured by smoke, and poor lighting, but it’s nine foot frame, and unnatural gait are clear.
The box holding Augustus sits about ten feet away from me, inside the massive cage. The front opens, my instinct is to step backward, get as much distance between me and the thing inside as possible, but instead, I’m shoved, before I can catch my balance, a workbook clad foot is in front of me.
I fall and stumble into the cage, I turn around to try and get out as fast as I can, I’m standing inches away from the creature, but I see Sylvia closing the clear, impermeable door.
It hits me then. For the first time since this ordeal started, I realize how grim things are.
Just like everyone else here, I’ve been raised on spooky shit packaged to be marketable. Little monsters, The Adams Family, Harry potter, hell let’s throw Pokemon and the like in there as it’s basically just dog fighting with a cute hat on.
And I thought what was happening to me, was somewhere on the Venn diagram of those things.
But as I see the impassive look on the face of a woman I’ve known since I was a child, ( at a distance or no.) as I’m locked in here with God knows what, I get it. I really get it.
His laughter is like an ice pick, I turn to face him, Augustus brushes himself off, casually looking around the massive arena.
“Just hit ya didn’t it, bud? “ He says, walking over to me, his steps impossibly quick, almost insect-like, “You’re not my trainer, or my wrangler, you certainly aren’t my fucking partner. “, the entity grabs my chin between two clawed fingers, “ You’re a bait dog. Something for me and that new blooded walking pun to fight over. “
My blood runs down his thumb, his grin cracks his face like a rotten melon, the monster pulls down, throwing me to the floor.
A buzzer sounds, and a three minute timer, projected in transparent red appears on the walls of the Lucite arena.
“If I’ve got to hunt you down in this shit-hole, things are going to be a lot worse for you. Stay put, bud. “ The trenchcoat clad thing says, casually walking toward the creature on the opposite side of the arena.
Closer now, I see it clearly. Inside of a pristine uniform, is a twisted attempt at the human form. The torso is lumpen, asymmetrical, but lean. It's arms nearly drag on the floor, yellow, infected looking flesh, weeping pus like a snail’s foot.
It's eyes are black caves, with just the hint of something deep within. It’s face is blank, a torn, haggard looking grey tongue runs over rotting green teeth.
The kid beside it looks around my age, he’s big though, just as confused and afraid as I am. He wears a similar uniform to the creature, but his looks, abused, torn, blood stained. Like it's been handed down from one unlucky owner to the next.
As the buzzer rings, the lanky, disgusting creature moves in a flash, tearing off the kid’s right arm and beginning to chew it.
The blood didn’t set me off, as terrible as it was. It was the three seconds between the act, and the poor kid realizing what happened that pushed me over the edge.
He started to scream, a horrible trapped animal kind of noise. He backs away from the monster beside him, gripping the crushed and torn remains of his forearm.
Augustus laughs, his trenchcoat drags on the floor, leaving a streak of blood as he walks.
“Man after my own heart.
So, I say, we split these sides of beef for two minutes then talk shop for a bit. Fuck these pretentious apes and their show. “ Augustus looks up to the massive thing. It remains impassive, gnawing on the hand.
“Don’t be like that. We both know two halves are better than one whole . Win-win for both of us“ Augustus gets a noise that sounds like an angry sewer pipe, and a dismissive wave of a long snake-like arm in response.
The thing in the trenchcoat shrugs, turning around and stalking toward me.
“You have no luck at all kid, I was going to let you go last.
But the pinworm back there wants to be a dick about things, so looks like things are getting started early. “ Augustus grins, his mouth opening shark like.
I stare down certain death, Augustus radiating fear, seeming to become more demonic with each step toward me.
From behind him, a noise.
I would have just assumed it was some part of the worm-like, filth ridden thing eating. Augustus clears up that misconception.
He turns, shaking, body language that of a wild animal.
“Was that a fucking snicker? A giggle? Are you fucking laughing at me, you literal fucking worm. “ He’s panting, hands twitching like dying insects.
He stands, inches from the other creature, dwarfed by it, teeth grinding, muscles straining.
The worm thing casually tosses the flesh bare hand toward Augustus. As it touches his coat, the arena erupts into a kind of wild, senseless, limitless violence.
It doesn’t feel like watching a fight, it’s more like a car wreck, or natural disaster. Pieces of jungle gym turn into lethal shrapnel as the blurred, filth spewing scrum destroys them.
I see the timer, 2:15. My mind starts to catch up, and I see the other kid, pale, whimpering, and trying in vain to staunch the blood spurting from his arm.
I’m running, low and likely poorly, pulling my belt from my pants, and thanking myself for actually listening when I was forced to take a first aid course for a summer job last year.
The kid is scared, he tries pushing me away, but I’m determined, and not down a couple pints of blood. I pull the belt with two hands, pull it through again and twist, it’s ugly, it’s not perfect, but the flow of blood begins to slow, then stop.
We crawl behind a prize counter, decades old candy and stuffed animals surround us as we cower. A liquid filled roar loud enough to crack the cheap glass cases fills the room.
The kid is looking rough, blood still trickling from the torn stump of his forearm. I see some plastic bags and get an idea.
I lean over to get them, and feel something strange, at first I think I pulled a muscle.
Then there is a deep, burning pain, instinctively I pull away, and turn around.
The kid is on his knees, sanity has left his eyes, a cheap hunting knife in his remaining hand he has a look of panic and determination on his face.
“We have to win. “ he says, lunging at me with the blade.
He’s slow, and I avoid it, but not by as much as I’d like. Blood runs down my back, for a moment I wonder how bad I’m hurt, but it doesn’t really matter right now.
I retreat, but the only thing keeping us from being torn apart by the whirlwind of shrapnel caused by the creatures is the counter, I can’t escape.
It's a stalemate, I’m no athlete, and the kid is built like a rugby player, but he’s missing a hand, and delirious from blood loss. I plead, I try and reason, and I dodge crazed strikes by increasingly narrow margins.
Something large, either thrown or knocked loose destroys the counter behind me. Suddenly all is chaos. I’m thrown into the kid in the uniform, plaster dust surrounds us in a grey cloud.
By the time the air clears the kid is on top of me. I have his wrist in one hand, keeping the split tip of the blade inches from my face.
The angle is too awkward, I can’t get any leverage. It’s not a stalemate, it’s a war of attrition that I’m losing.
I catch a glimpse of the two creatures. The worm thing is striking at Augustus, who stands still, limbs moving in arcing blurs deflecting the blows and tearing off chunks of foul, tainted flesh.
The tip of the knife begins to dig into my cheek. A drop of blood hits my eye.
I grab the makeshift tourniquet with a free hand and roughly yank forward. The kid on top of me screams, bloods begins to pour. Torn flesh and a gore soaked belt hit the ground.
For a moment the weight on me eases up, and I push the knife forward. But the kid, he’s too stupid or far gone to just back off. As I feel is strength start to fade, he presses himself harder.
I expect him to back off as I begin to drive the roughly sharpened back edge of the knife into his neck. But he doubles down, leaning forward, trying to press the knife toward me.
For a moment, every other fucked up thing going on around me doesn’t matter. The world is small, silent, and consists of nothing more than the image of the knife ripping away a fist sized strip from the kids neck.
He backs off when he realizes the extent of the damage. Staring at me shocked, as if just not realizing the consequences of his actions.
He dies slowly, poorly, and within inches of me. I feel no victory, no sense of being a winner, just a dark pit in the back of my mind. The loss of something that comes with taking someone’s life.
I stand, shell shocked, staring at the corpse. My safety the last thing on my mind.
The worm thing is hurt, and attempts to dive into the ball pit, but somehow, defying physics, Augustus grabs it, holding the half ton monster out with one hand.
He arcs the thing, slamming it into the floor behind him, the spray of gore and viscera rivals pyrotechnics, the force leaves a blood filled crater in the floor.
Without missing a beat Augustus starts to walk toward me, making a token effort of flicking pieces of bone and organ from himself.
I’m frozen, I know nothing I can do could stop whatever he has planned.
The creature picks up a jagged piece of lumber, and looks at the clock, “We’ve got 45 seconds of fun left kid. “ he says with a sneer.
But as he passes the counter, and sees the corpse the look of imminent violence turns into amusement.
“How’s it feel to be a child killer, bud? “, Augustus laughs, “Not that I can’t tell from the look on your face.
Fuck me, that knocked some gears loose didn’t it? “
The thing walks forward, looking me over like a collectable.
“I can’t let that go to waste, now can I? “ he slaps me lightly, “It’s going to be a fucking blast watching you break down kid, wonder what drives you nuts first, this kid being in your dreams, or the fact that, at some point I’m going to get bored and start giving you all the pain you feel you deserve? “
Of course, I made it out alive. It’d be kind of hard to have posted this if I didn’t.
But now, I sit in a dingy room in a farm house half way across the world from home. Surrounded by family and monsters, all of which seem out to get me. Being forced to risk my life in some kind of blood sport.
Maybe I’ll be back, maybe I’ll be dead by the next time I get a chance to post anything. If anyone has any help, please, post it in the comments. I’m in a dark place here and no one else seems to be on my side.

“Get the fuck out of my house with this ‘ old country’ shit Sylvia, I’m serious. “ I hear my dad say from the kitchen downstairs.
“I give children and idiots three warnings. That’s your first. “ It takes me a second to recognize my aunt’s voice. I’ve only met her a handful of times, and it’s nearly 2am.
“Syl, he’s right, this is crazy. I’m Roma, I’m proud, but your part of the family, and mine are two separate things. “ My mom interjects. Her voice is calm and level.
I woke up about half way through whatever is going on, and I’m fuzzy on the details, but everyone involved is three kinds of pissed.
“So you say, but just because you ignore the other side, doesn’t mean the other side ignores you. “ Aunt Syl replies, I could never quite place her accent, but it makes her statement all the more sinister.
“Might as well make that the family motto.
Syl, there are a couple dozen other kids Nikolas’ age in the family. Half of which are already hip deep in whatever is going on nowadays, you don’t need him. “ Mom isn’t pleading, but I can hear she’s worried.
“Why are we trying to reason with your crazy aunt? Time to go Syl. “ My dad isn’t worried, he’s angry.
“That’s two. “ Aunt Sylvia replies.
I hear a chair squeak then fall to the floor.
“That’s three. “ Sylvia says, her voice is cold, and I swear I could almost hear an echo.
I can hear my dad start to quietly cough, he sounds like he’s trying to talk but can’t. My heart starts to race, I don’t understand what’s going on, but I know it’s bad.
“Syl! Jesus Christ, that’s my husband. “ Mom sounds more offended than scared now. I wish I could say the same.
I stand next to my cracked door, fear beginning to take hold.
I can hear my dad start to take long wheezing breaths, I have no idea if this is a good or bad thing.
“Happy?
Now that any hope of doing this quietly is over, Nikolas and I have a long drive ahead of us. He’s 16, he has a license, yes? “ I hear Sylvia say, sudden footsteps walking up the stairs.
“No, he’s not interested in driving. You can’t take him Syl. “ my mom sounds frantic, Sylvia’s steps are measured and heavy.
“Not interested? You sure we are related? You raise soft children. “ Sylvia ends this with a dismissive laugh.
The few minutes that followed were kind of a blur, with my mom trying to convince me that I was just going to visit family, as if I didn’t just hear everything.
It's a couple hours into a long drive in a small car when my brain finally catches up to the fact that I’m awake, and going 30 miles an hour over the speed limit.
Aunt Syl sits in the driver’s seat, she’s 40 something, olive skinned with pitch-colored hair. Her style, it’s, something.
Her outfit was the middle of a Venn diagram of hippie, punk rock and carpenter. Bracelets, flannel, paisley, and enough piercings I lost count.
“Any chance of putting both hands on the wheel? “ I say, I’m mad, but I don’t even really know why.
She holds up her left arm, and I’m shocked. It’s an ancient looking blued steel prosthetic. She flexes, the clawed, almost mitten-like hand.
“Go through too many steering wheels that way. “ She says with a smirk.
“What’s going on? “ I ask, after an agonizing fifteen minutes of silence.
“You’re a big boy, so if you want the truth, I’ll give it to you. There’s a job that needs to be done, a dangerous job. And I want you to do it.
Now, I want you, not because you’re strong, or smart, or special. We have many strong, smart, special boys.
You, I want, because you’re unknown, and, little one, disposable. “ Sylvia lets this comment hang like rotten fruit.
The next hour goes in silence, at no point do I even entertain the notion this is some kind of joke. Something about this woman’s energy, about the way she carries herself, it scares the shit out of me.
We board a plane, somehow she had all of my travel documents. Even stranger is that we get escorted past the security checkpoints, into first class.
The next words I say to Sylvia are, “You have to put that out! “ as she lights up a short, yellow, hand-rolled cigarette.
She grins, taking a long drag, it smells horrible, the cheapest roughest tobacco odor I’ve encountered.
She relaxes, a cloud of thick, grey smoke forming.
I’m stunned, not a single person says anything. At first I think maybe she’s some kind of, I don’t know, mobster or something.
But that isn’t quite right. No one is looking at her in fear, no one is telling anyone else not to say anything. It’s like no one notices what she’s doing.
“How does she do this? The little boy wonders.
I don’t come offering you a thankless task Nik. I come with an opportunity. “ Sylvia says before crushing the cigarette on the arm of a chair and tossing it into the isle.
I had questions, and between the fear and the confusion I asked every one of them.
The only response she gave me was, “You’ll see when we get there. “.
She was right.
The flight lands, and after an hour or so of driving the world’s oldest pickup through the English countryside, we wind up at an old farm house, in the middle of nowhere outside of Hammersmith.
The sign outside says “ Gritt Auctions” the letters are old, bronze and tarnished, the grounds are littered with car parts, statues, and errata of every type.
Dozens, maybe even a hundred people mill about each stopping for a moment to give a suspicious look at the interloper in their midst.
Sylvia seems amused at my nervousness. I try and give the rough looking folks around me as much space as I can.
“They’re family, mostly, by blood or marriage, with a handful of lost souls and hangers on. “ She explains.
I probably should have guessed, seeing my mom’s family name on the sign, but my brain is basically nothing more than fear, anxiety and jet lag at this point.
“When do I get to know what’s going on? “ I say, waving at a cousin of some form and receive a uniquely English rude gesture in return.
My ear is ringing, and I stumble , the left side of my face burning. I’d say Syl slapped me, but it was more of a polite punch.
“Don’t whine. You’ve been stolen from your mother, treated like a dog, and judging by Robert’s attitude, rejected by your family.
I don’t want to hear whining, you angry, soft boy? “ Sylvia stops and turns toward me. I notice the people around us stop their tasks, interested in our conversation.
“No… “ I begin, not wanting to piss her off.
I don’t even see the next slap, but it puts me on my ass.
“Next one’s with the left hand.
Are you angry Nikolas? “ Sylvia looms over me like a raven.
I feel something before I get to my feet, a hot, quick flash of hatred. A context free rage at the fucked up situation I’m in.
“Answer is still no. Because to be angry, I’d have to know a God-Damned thing about what’s going on.
But my lunatic aunt just picked me up and now I’m standing in the middle of whatever the English equivalent to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family is.
For all I know, I’m your new King. So no, I’m not angry, I’m annoyed, and maybe a bit worried my gene pool really needs some chlorine. “ I’m shocked at what I’m saying, but I see some smiles, hear a few laughs.
Sylvia’s face seems to soften slightly.
“There’s the Gritt in you. “ She says, starting to walk to an old barn.
I catch up to her as I attempt in vain to dust myself off.
Sylvia opens a small, strangely modern looking door, inside a row of lights automatically flip on.
In contrast to the rotten wood exterior, the inside of the barn looks modern, design wise it’s half way between a hospital and a car repair shop. Equipment of unknown purpose, gurneys and cages of all sizes and types surround me.
Sylvia walks to a door at the back, then pauses.
“Before I open this door, you need to understand something.
There is no fortune telling, or reading of cards here. The cloak of the traveller, the bangles of the gypsy, these are all ways of navigating the world to us. Ways to exist on the fringes of society.
The Gritt family, we trade in the unknown. We find, we collect, and we sell. And ours is no petty collection of trinkets and tools not meant for the hands of man.
Our grift, is livestock. “
The woman opens the door, and what I see, sitting, chained in one corner of the industrial cement walled cell shakes everything I thought I knew about reality.
He's six and a half feet tall, his skin a waxy yellow, and every spare inch is festooned with black stitching, rusted pieces of metal or small splinters of bone.
His face is noseless and asymmetrical, almost as if repaired or modified over and over. One eye is a small, sinister looking orb with a red pupil, the other a massive, almost reptilian thing, wildly twitching about.
He wears no shirt, but a long, grey hide Trenchcoat hangs down to his knees. I start to shake as I see it’s made from layers of stitched human skin.
He sneers at us, long, conical teeth catch the harsh halogen light.
The thing strains against the chains, but they bind him tightly enough to the wall he can barely move.
“You’re not lasting more than 4 seconds kid. Just turn the fuck around. I’ll have you slitting your wrists in the corner by nightfall. “ The thing says, it’s voice is foul, almost a physical force. Grating, rage filled, and with a lunatic edge to it that makes me question exactly how much those chains can take.
“ 3/10, Augustus, who do you think you are scaring with that limp dick of a threat? “ Sylvia says, confidently walking up to the creature.
It snaps it’s jaws with a sound like a rifle shot. No where near Sylvia, but enough to make me jump on the other side of the room.
“If I could stop being threatened and hearing my aunt talk about dicks, I’d be a huge fan. “ I say, something deep within me, pushing past the fear and lack of sleep, “And if anything feels like just telling me what’s going on instead of being vague and creepy, even better. “
The chained thing looks to me, curious. Sylvia smirks.
“Augustus is going to be forced to fight others like him until eventually he gets what’s coming to him for years of evil.
You, are going to stand next to him while he does it. “ Sylvia begins to walk away from the thing, ignoring vile threats of both the violent and carnal variety.
I try to follow her out the door and she blocks me.
“If your still sane and alive in the morning, I was right. Good luck soft boy. “ She says before closing the heavy metal door.
Without her, I feel tiny, that spark of rage is snuffed out and replaced with a cold sense of dread.
“You’re going to have to turn around sometime kid. “ The chained creature says.
I turn, slowly, resolving to make eye contact with the thing. I manage a second or two before looking away, the creature cackles, mocking me.
“Holy shit, they sent me an honest to God pussy. Whole family full of void fucked apes and they send me you?
The best part is, you don’t even get it. I can see what you’re thinking kid, I can see that tiny collection of hormones and goo you vainly call a brain going into overdrive trying to figure this out… “ Augustus starts.
The creature kept going, I don’t have an exact count but it was at least twelve hours.
I can only describe it as a verbal assault. Augustus drew from some dark wells, how it knew half of the things it did scared me as much as it’s clawed hands or, piranha-like teeth.
I lost something that night. The fears that thing drug up, the insecurities it played on, the secrets it knew, it crushed any childlike notions of safety or understanding the world I had.
Don’t take that the wrong way, I don’t mean it toughened me up. It broke any sense of confidence I had, took away any feeling of safety. That God Damned thing in the trenchcoat, changed me.
I’ve lost track of how long it’s been since I’ve slept, but I’m brought a tin plate heaped with eggs, sausage and for some twisted reason, brown beans. And realize it’s been at least a day since I’ve eaten.
I sit around an abused, graffiti carved picnic table with an eclectic combination of family I’ve never met. Syl sips a tea I can smell from ten feet away and looks at me like I’m a used car.
“I’m always right soft boy. Remember that. “ She says.
It takes a half dozen guys built like construction workers, with Sylvia following behind whispering things that wilt vegetation, to wrangle the creature into the back of an old, reinforced horse trailer.
The inside is covered in totems, runes, and other spooky looking errata. The entity becomes sluggish and disoriented as the heavy wooden doors close, and get sealed with a massive brass lock.
My mind begins to wander on the three hour trip through the back country of the UK. The sun sets, and my brain screams for sleep. That scream is silenced by the sense of mounting dread as we get closer to our destination.
We pull up to an abandoned theme restaurant, the parking lot is full, the windows are boarded, and the walls covered in graffiti. The place is huge, more the size of a small stadium than a diner.
The parking lot is full, the sputtering, sparking neon sign flashes “Faron’s Funhouse. “
It’s a few minutes outside of a town I forgot to catch the name of. We can see lights on the horizon, but there’s a feeling of wrong surrounding the building that makes them seem a million miles away.
A half dozen ‘cousins’ of mine move Augustus into a strange, almost coffin-like box made of wood, steel and glass, covered in trinkets and symbols. The thing sneers groggily from within, it’s mismatched eyes rolling in it’s skull.
I don’t hear Sylvia approach, I notice her as she smacks me in the back of the head hard enough to make my ears ring. The old, cruel woman is walking toward the doors of this meeting place.
“Eyes forward, sneer on your face, and walk like you know where you’re going. “ Are her only instructions.
For once, they’re clear and simple. What I see inside easily keeps my attention, and I’m equal parts scared and pissed off, so looking edgy and miserable is my default state.
At one point, this place was exactly what you’d think. I know you’re all expecting it to be a run down, rat infested haunted house now, but it was, stranger than that.
The place was well kept on the inside, but everything was either in use or repurposed to house the couple hundred eclectic customers milling around. In the centre, is a massive Lucite Cube, crystal clear and housing a ball pit, jungle gym and what looks to be a functional canteen, complete with a deep fryer and popcorn machine. It’s a couple hundred meters a side, and shaped like a flawed rectangle.
Smoke hangs in the air, my aunt greets old friends in a handful of different languages, I smile and nod, still trying to understand what the hell this place is.
We see Augustus being wheeled to the Lucite box, Sylvia cuts a laughing Cyrillic conversation short, and her and I make our way to the box that barely restrains the hatred and death inside.
At the other end of the Lucite Cube I see a few people dressed in blue and maroon uniforms ( if I were to guess vintage, from when this place served shitty food instead of violence.), they surround a massive, hulking, lanky thing. It’s obscured by smoke, and poor lighting, but it’s nine foot frame, and unnatural gait are clear.
The box holding Augustus sits about ten feet away from me, inside the massive cage. The front opens, my instinct is to step backward, get as much distance between me and the thing inside as possible, but instead, I’m shoved, before I can catch my balance, a workbook clad foot is in front of me.
I fall and stumble into the cage, I turn around to try and get out as fast as I can, I’m standing inches away from the creature, but I see Sylvia closing the clear, impermeable door.
It hits me then. For the first time since this ordeal started, I realize how grim things are.
Just like everyone else here, I’ve been raised on spooky shit packaged to be marketable. Little monsters, The Adams Family, Harry potter, hell let’s throw Pokemon and the like in there as it’s basically just dog fighting with a cute hat on.
And I thought what was happening to me, was somewhere on the Venn diagram of those things.
But as I see the impassive look on the face of a woman I’ve known since I was a child, ( at a distance or no.) as I’m locked in here with God knows what, I get it. I really get it.
His laughter is like an ice pick, I turn to face him, Augustus brushes himself off, casually looking around the massive arena.
“Just hit ya didn’t it, bud? “ He says, walking over to me, his steps impossibly quick, almost insect-like, “You’re not my trainer, or my wrangler, you certainly aren’t my fucking partner. “, the entity grabs my chin between two clawed fingers, “ You’re a bait dog. Something for me and that new blooded walking pun to fight over. “
My blood runs down his thumb, his grin cracks his face like a rotten melon, the monster pulls down, throwing me to the floor.
A buzzer sounds, and a three minute timer, projected in transparent red appears on the walls of the Lucite arena.
“If I’ve got to hunt you down in this shit-hole, things are going to be a lot worse for you. Stay put, bud. “ The trenchcoat clad thing says, casually walking toward the creature on the opposite side of the arena.
Closer now, I see it clearly. Inside of a pristine uniform, is a twisted attempt at the human form. The torso is lumpen, asymmetrical, but lean. It's arms nearly drag on the floor, yellow, infected looking flesh, weeping pus like a snail’s foot.
It's eyes are black caves, with just the hint of something deep within. It’s face is blank, a torn, haggard looking grey tongue runs over rotting green teeth.
The kid beside it looks around my age, he’s big though, just as confused and afraid as I am. He wears a similar uniform to the creature, but his looks, abused, torn, blood stained. Like it's been handed down from one unlucky owner to the next.
As the buzzer rings, the lanky, disgusting creature moves in a flash, tearing off the kid’s right arm and beginning to chew it.
The blood didn’t set me off, as terrible as it was. It was the three seconds between the act, and the poor kid realizing what happened that pushed me over the edge.
He started to scream, a horrible trapped animal kind of noise. He backs away from the monster beside him, gripping the crushed and torn remains of his forearm.
Augustus laughs, his trenchcoat drags on the floor, leaving a streak of blood as he walks.
“Man after my own heart.
So, I say, we split these sides of beef for two minutes then talk shop for a bit. Fuck these pretentious apes and their show. “ Augustus looks up to the massive thing. It remains impassive, gnawing on the hand.
“Don’t be like that. We both know two halves are better than one whole . Win-win for both of us“ Augustus gets a noise that sounds like an angry sewer pipe, and a dismissive wave of a long snake-like arm in response.
The thing in the trenchcoat shrugs, turning around and stalking toward me.
“You have no luck at all kid, I was going to let you go last.
But the pinworm back there wants to be a dick about things, so looks like things are getting started early. “ Augustus grins, his mouth opening shark like.
I stare down certain death, Augustus radiating fear, seeming to become more demonic with each step toward me.
From behind him, a noise.
I would have just assumed it was some part of the worm-like, filth ridden thing eating. Augustus clears up that misconception.
He turns, shaking, body language that of a wild animal.
“Was that a fucking snicker? A giggle? Are you fucking laughing at me, you literal fucking worm. “ He’s panting, hands twitching like dying insects.
He stands, inches from the other creature, dwarfed by it, teeth grinding, muscles straining.
The worm thing casually tosses the flesh bare hand toward Augustus. As it touches his coat, the arena erupts into a kind of wild, senseless, limitless violence.
It doesn’t feel like watching a fight, it’s more like a car wreck, or natural disaster. Pieces of jungle gym turn into lethal shrapnel as the blurred, filth spewing scrum destroys them.
I see the timer, 2:15. My mind starts to catch up, and I see the other kid, pale, whimpering, and trying in vain to staunch the blood spurting from his arm.
I’m running, low and likely poorly, pulling my belt from my pants, and thanking myself for actually listening when I was forced to take a first aid course for a summer job last year.
The kid is scared, he tries pushing me away, but I’m determined, and not down a couple pints of blood. I pull the belt with two hands, pull it through again and twist, it’s ugly, it’s not perfect, but the flow of blood begins to slow, then stop.
We crawl behind a prize counter, decades old candy and stuffed animals surround us as we cower. A liquid filled roar loud enough to crack the cheap glass cases fills the room.
The kid is looking rough, blood still trickling from the torn stump of his forearm. I see some plastic bags and get an idea.
I lean over to get them, and feel something strange, at first I think I pulled a muscle.
Then there is a deep, burning pain, instinctively I pull away, and turn around.
The kid is on his knees, sanity has left his eyes, a cheap hunting knife in his remaining hand he has a look of panic and determination on his face.
“We have to win. “ he says, lunging at me with the blade.
He’s slow, and I avoid it, but not by as much as I’d like. Blood runs down my back, for a moment I wonder how bad I’m hurt, but it doesn’t really matter right now.
I retreat, but the only thing keeping us from being torn apart by the whirlwind of shrapnel caused by the creatures is the counter, I can’t escape.
It's a stalemate, I’m no athlete, and the kid is built like a rugby player, but he’s missing a hand, and delirious from blood loss. I plead, I try and reason, and I dodge crazed strikes by increasingly narrow margins.
Something large, either thrown or knocked loose destroys the counter behind me. Suddenly all is chaos. I’m thrown into the kid in the uniform, plaster dust surrounds us in a grey cloud.
By the time the air clears the kid is on top of me. I have his wrist in one hand, keeping the split tip of the blade inches from my face.
The angle is too awkward, I can’t get any leverage. It’s not a stalemate, it’s a war of attrition that I’m losing.
I catch a glimpse of the two creatures. The worm thing is striking at Augustus, who stands still, limbs moving in arcing blurs deflecting the blows and tearing off chunks of foul, tainted flesh.
The tip of the knife begins to dig into my cheek. A drop of blood hits my eye.
I grab the makeshift tourniquet with a free hand and roughly yank forward. The kid on top of me screams, bloods begins to pour. Torn flesh and a gore soaked belt hit the ground.
For a moment the weight on me eases up, and I push the knife forward. But the kid, he’s too stupid or far gone to just back off. As I feel is strength start to fade, he presses himself harder.
I expect him to back off as I begin to drive the roughly sharpened back edge of the knife into his neck. But he doubles down, leaning forward, trying to press the knife toward me.
For a moment, every other fucked up thing going on around me doesn’t matter. The world is small, silent, and consists of nothing more than the image of the knife ripping away a fist sized strip from the kids neck.
He backs off when he realizes the extent of the damage. Staring at me shocked, as if just not realizing the consequences of his actions.
He dies slowly, poorly, and within inches of me. I feel no victory, no sense of being a winner, just a dark pit in the back of my mind. The loss of something that comes with taking someone’s life.
I stand, shell shocked, staring at the corpse. My safety the last thing on my mind.
The worm thing is hurt, and attempts to dive into the ball pit, but somehow, defying physics, Augustus grabs it, holding the half ton monster out with one hand.
He arcs the thing, slamming it into the floor behind him, the spray of gore and viscera rivals pyrotechnics, the force leaves a blood filled crater in the floor.
Without missing a beat Augustus starts to walk toward me, making a token effort of flicking pieces of bone and organ from himself.
I’m frozen, I know nothing I can do could stop whatever he has planned.
The creature picks up a jagged piece of lumber, and looks at the clock, “We’ve got 45 seconds of fun left kid. “ he says with a sneer.
But as he passes the counter, and sees the corpse the look of imminent violence turns into amusement.
“How’s it feel to be a child killer, bud? “, Augustus laughs, “Not that I can’t tell from the look on your face.
Fuck me, that knocked some gears loose didn’t it? “
The thing walks forward, looking me over like a collectable.
“I can’t let that go to waste, now can I? “ he slaps me lightly, “It’s going to be a fucking blast watching you break down kid, wonder what drives you nuts first, this kid being in your dreams, or the fact that, at some point I’m going to get bored and start giving you all the pain you feel you deserve? “
Of course, I made it out alive. It’d be kind of hard to have posted this if I didn’t.
But now, I sit in a dingy room in a farm house half way across the world from home. Surrounded by family and monsters, all of which seem out to get me. Being forced to risk my life in some kind of blood sport.
Maybe I’ll be back, maybe I’ll be dead by the next time I get a chance to post anything. If anyone has any help, please, post it in the comments. I’m in a dark place here and no one else seems to be on my side.

I have a hen that just went broody a couple days ago and I am wondering if there is a right time to plant chicks under her? I know to do it at night and all that but does she need to be broody for a week or two before I plant chicks?
We have hatched chicks the old fashioned way in the past with no issues but I want to do what I can to ensure she takes the chicks rather than have a massacre on my hands. Thanks!

I (25F) recently reconnected with my ex-fwb (28M) just a few weeks ago (we haven't even kissed/did anything physical, we got dinner a couple times so we literally just sat and talked at the restaurant). I'm fine with just being platonic and it seemed like he was cool with that too initially, but he's been sorta weird these past several days. We talked on the phone 5 nights ago and he made a few dirty jokes here and there (like when I asked him if he could bring me some chocolate next time, he said 'If I put it somewhere else, you'll lick it off'). And then even several days before the phone call, he texted something like "I wonder how much the neighbors probably heard" (like when we used to do sexual stuff).
After the phone call 5 days ago, I called him the next night and he said he was on video call with someone and I asked if I can call later and he said he was knocking out. I hearted his messages and politely let it be, I assumed he didn't wanna talk much anymore or something. 2 days go by, the both of us are silent and then he texts me yesterday morning at like 7:40 a.m. and all it says is "Fortnite?" (we used to occasionally game together LOL) and I replied back later saying just "Sure". He didn't reply to this for hours so at night, I text him again and all I say is "I'm ready". He gets back to me 20 mins later and texts that he raged and ended up deleting the game. I called him almost immediately after to ask what's up and he declines my call and I text him saying "You're being weird". It's the next afternoon now and he still hasn't replied back.
Isn't he being weird?? I can't tell if he's even being honest or what he wants. If he doesn't wanna engage with me in any sort of way anymore, platonic or not, then damn just leave me alone. What was the point of even texting me yesterday morning asking about Fortnite??

I tend to like games I can take at my own pace that I can play while listening to something in the background. A lot of them I don't see often in this sub, probably because they don't fit neatly into that "cozy" aesthetic. I still want to talk about these games though, because while some might not look relaxing from the cover art and all that, they still feel pretty chill to play for me.
1. Miitopia (3DS, Switch) - If you're the type of person who spends hours obsessing over fictional characters, this game is for you. Basically it's a RPG where you can hyper-customize your OCs and have them go through cute scenarios together as their own adventuring party. It's the type of game that you take ten million screenshots of because some of the moments it can conjure up are extremely funny. Like very funny. I consider it chill because it doesn't require that much input if you don't want to, but it has just enough if you do want to do some actual combat.
2. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (Switch) - Honestly I could put down any Mystery Dungeon series here. All of these games are turn-based and grindy, but in a fun way - especially with the one on the Switch, you could play it at a very low or high skill level and still feel satisfied either way. It's all the appeal of the collectathon RPG aspect of the mainline Pokemon games, except it has a way better plot and you can play as the ACTUAL Pokemon. The artstyle is always very charming, the music's comforting, and you get to help out Pokemon with your own rescue team (and your Pokemon partner is always written very endearingly). The sound effects are also immensely satisfying too, there's a lot of love put into this series. I also always love the little Pokemon village you return to and all the villagers you interact with, it's very cute.
3. Darkest Dungeon (Steam, Switch) - I KNOW that this game is all about "if you fuck up you kind of snowball back". I KNOW you battle eldritch monstrosities and succumb to the horrors. But I ALSO know that when I put this at the lowest difficulty and spend time slowly unlocking my medieval hamlet and collecting loot from my crusades through the dungeons while listening to The Hobbit audiobook I feel more relaxed than I get while playing Stardew Valley. Man I love the loot loop in this one.
4. Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia (3DS) - Most Fire Emblem games look hard from the outside because of the numbers on the screen. They can be if you want them to, but I feel that their easy difficulty setting is very chill (and allows you to also ignore the numbers). Fire Emblem games shine best in having your characters build bonds with each other as well as with your own character, and seeing those relationships have a real-time effect on how well they fight together on the battlefield. I joke that these games are basically relationship simulators... but they kind of are. Fire Emblem: Three Houses on the Switch is notorious for this if you want to pair up different characters together and slowly discover their HBO-tv show level-written backstories as your class of students fight together to overthrow the government and God and shit. But anyways these games are fun turn-based chess except you can kind of be stupid with it and just cruise on by if you want to. There's no need to rush, you can stare for hours to decide where to move your units next on the map (and also rewind if you make a mistake on your turn).
5. Vampire Survivors (Steam, Switch, Mobile) - This is also a game that might look hard and intimidating from the outside, especially for those peeps who get scared of fighting monster-type games in general. This is not that game. This is basically Cookie Clicker and you watch the numbers go up and you get crazy overpowered. Basically you move your character around on a screen while they automatically shoot down enemies for you (zero aim required), you level up and get random power-ups that make you more and more overpowered until you're an indestructible god. Extremely addicting, watch out. It's got a surprising amount of hidden secrets and depth that make this worth playing over and over again.
6. Steamworld Heist (Steam, Switch) - You get your motley rag-tag pirate robot crew and jump onto other pirate ships in the distant robot Wild West apocalypse. However this is also, surprisingly, turn-based! You can even adjust the difficulty for each round if you want. It's surprisingly addicting and chill as hell. Remember Angry Birds? It's the same mechanics as that, kind of - you move your characters through the ship, and also make them aim their guns to try to hit the enemies you encounter on your way, then collecting the loot they drop. It kind of reminds me of those old Flash games I used to play on the PC with similar mechanics as well.
7. Inscryption (Steam, Switch) - Amazing story, first of all. But also, this roguelite card game, although with a creepy folklore-in-the-woods aesthetic, is also so. Fun. To. Play. If you're a card game/board game type person in general, you should play this game. If you're a secrets/lore/puzzle person, you should also play this game. I can't spoil much but if you don't mind a horror setting as long as the gameplay itself isn't too rushed or harried, definitley play this one.
8. Stacklands (Steam) - This is a kind of "watch your community grow" collectathon type game. You can pause, fast forward, or slow down any time that you'd like. You have a bunch of cards in front of you that represent the humans in your community and the natural resources around them, and you experiment with having them interact to see what type of new games they make. The fun is in discovering new types of resources and technologies for your community, and watching it grow. Lots of replay value for sure.
9. Super Auto Pets (Steam, Mobile) - I think this is free, actually! But basically you have a team of up to 5 random animals, and every round you get a randomized set of upgrades or new animals you can add on to your team, which face off against another team (can be single player, multi player, or lobby). It's very simple to get the hang of, yet also you can be pretty strategic about it as well. The animals are also pretty cute, I won't lie.
10. Civilization VI (Steam, 3DS) - Get it on PC if you can. This is for the micro-management gamers who love board game night and also expanding their civilizations. Choose any historical figure and decide how you want to grow your empire on a hexagon-based board - but remember, you are also competing against other players on the same map (can be bots). Take as much time as you want. Prepare to get sucked in for a month playing this.

Me and all my best guy and girl friends went out last night, for my best girlfriends 21st. It was so much fun for the start. We got a party bus and went to the bars and everyone left on the bus at 1am. Then we all went to the gas station and the guys got in some sort of serious fist fight in the bathroom (the nicest most harmless skinnier guy(jake) vs a bigger and meaner guy(Aaron ). The skinnier one(jake) of our friends came out the bathroom not wanting to make a big deal out of it but was he wanted to go home and he couldn’t be convinced otherwise (he also had marks from being “jokingly choked out” by the bigger guy). One of the other guys(cal) had stopped the fight which he is best friends with both of them but both of them felt as if cal had taken each others side and were mad. The bus took us back to my place and cal STORMED upstairs with ppl running after them and and jake sat on the curb really shaken up. So I sat with jake and confronted him trying to stop him from ubering 45 mins home but he was so upset that Aaron had taken a play fight way to far and it seemed like cal made it ok. We finally talk jake down enough down for him to come upstairs to my apartment. When we walk in it seems some of our other girlfriends had been trying to calm cal down for a while. Cal is historically a kinda mean drunk when he’s blacked (he just tries to fight other guys and be all macho). When jake walked in he said and I quote “fuck you cal” and cal shoots up from the couch and starts cussing and threatening jake (mind you these guys are best friends so he’s way out of line). So me and my best friend laci get in the middle (with laci getting in front of Jake and me getting in front of cal). And I’m trying to stop cal from yelling at jake and he shoved me and that’s when everybody’s eyes went wide and was like woah woah. He isn’t the type that would shove a girl and it was hard. I started tearing up and went into the other room bc he was being very aggressive. I sit in there for a second just to calm myself while he’s yelling at our other friend Macy to give him his keys to drive 45 mins drunk which is obviously a no. He was throwing things, cussing ppl out that didn’t do anything but try to help him, slamming doors, calling names and being so disrespectful to my apartment. Jake had came into my room and gave me a hug and said he was sorry and that cal didn’t mean that. I went back out to the living room to try and calm the situation and he’s still yelling and Macy. He throws his nicotine and storms out of my place and laci and jake go after him I go out there and he yells and me and laci to give him his keys and our response was that we don’t have his keys but if we did we wouldn’t give them to him either. Cal yells back that he never wants to talk to us or see us again (me laci and cal have been best friends for 5 years). We were obviously were upset, tearing up and sad also (he said that multiple times). he ended up leaving with 2 girls he just met that night and passing out on their couch. We also realized that night he blocked me, laci and Macy. Like the actual audacity. We are all really upset. What’s the opinions on the situation??? Comment pls (Code names used)

Me (29M) and my partner (29F) broke up a month ago after a 9y relationship. We have known each other for about 20years in total and said we’ll stick to some sort of friendship, as there was no aggression, abuse or cheating in the years we have been together. She said to me after we broke up that she feels the safest with me and it’s such an amazing feeling.
Long story short, she said to me the classic: I love you but I’m not in love with you anymore.
We spoke everyday, doing videocalls (we lived together for the majority of our time together, but a few months back she went back to our home town to work in the family business - I will also move back there in aprox 2 months) and still sharing our everyday stuff with each other - pretty much nothing changed except for the intimacy part, but that was a bit rocky too during past months, so all in all not a massive difference after the breakup.
Note I do want her back, but not in the sense that I wish to jump back into what was, but to start again.
About a week ago, after nights when I couldn’t sleep at all, when I cried like a fucking child, I woke up and wrote a plan, step by step, on how to be the man I always wanted to be, to truly transition to a high status individual. That plan is gold and it literally gave me a world of confidence - not only do I feel I can get her back, but I feel I can live life in a very satisfying way and get what I want, not just from a romantic perspective, but also socially and financially.
Now, here comes the stuff I need help with.
When I started writing up the plan, I said to myself: I’m not going to chase her 1 second longer. So I stopped initiating any kind of contact. I would still reply if she texted or answer the phone if she called, but I’d cut it very short quickly and only communicate the absolute minimum.
She FaceTimed me 3 days ago to say she finally managed to rent a small flat and she can now move out from her parent’s house. Original plan was to rent a flat together in 2 months time when I’ll be there as well, but things changed, but she wanted so desperately to move out and so she managed to find this place. I said: Good for you, I hope you’ll enjoy living there. We then chatted 2 more minutes and that was it.
She rings me again the next day, being very “upset” with me over something I said very recently, which wasn’t true, but only wrongly interpreted. I laughed it off and she calmed down. In the past she would have managed to go under my skin with stuff like that but this time I was really cool about it and super secure. The “anger” was over in a few short minutes.
Today, she rings again. You never reach out anymore. I always reach out to you. What’s the deal? - she says Me: I’ve just been super busy, that’s all. Her: You’re doing this on purpose Me: You know I’m super invested in my PhD research and crypto, not to mention the gym and my actual day to day job.
Then I told her about a cool crypto project I started investing in. She was genuinely interested and she doesn’t give a shit about crypto in general.
She knows I’m flying home in 3 days time. She knows I haven’t seen my parents in months. And she asked me to stay with her a couple nights.
She wants me to stay with her for the first 2 nights I’m in the city. She wants to cook me steak. She was like: I found this beef fillet and I think you’d love it.
She also wants me to help her with some small stuff in the new house - like turn on the boiler. I also think she’s a bit afraid to be sleeping alone (but she’s hot, she could have found another man to be there if she really wanted to). This new flat of hers is literally 1 minute away (walking) from my parent’s house in which I grew up, house she slept in probably hundreds of times.
I kept on joking about how I’ll need to check my agenda to see if I can accommodate these nights with her as I’m quite engaged in other night activities. Then she said, still in a playful way, jokingly - Right, then I should check my agenda too, If you don’t have time to spend on activities with me.
WHAT should I do guys? I’D OBVIOUSLY ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO SPEND ALL MY NIGHTS WITH HER. How do I play this so that I increase attraction? What the heck should I do?
How do I play this right?
Thank you!

Ok. Let me preface this by saying my 8 year old has NOT had an easy going life. Her dad has chosen to leave her three times (only two she can remember) and I have no legal say in the matter. She’s never had an overnight with him, he’s just around sometimes. He never calls for her, no birthday or Christmas gifts. About two years ago they took a pottery class together and then she hasn’t seen him since BUT he still calls me for advice never even mentioning her. I keep these calls away from her and ignore him until she’s in school as I’ve learned from years of this, he never asks to speak to her and I’ve seen her face fall years before when she knew I was on the phone with him then he had to hang up.
Ok. So she’s got some shit going on.
But my. God. The. Attention. Getting. She has a two year old brother and she threw full blown tantrums as a 6 year old about to finally have a sibling. She got physical with me until my dad stepped in. She absolutely only respects men (out of fear). Of course I’ve had the talks with her about him needing more attention when he was an infant. Of course I involved her in feedings (bottle) and kept her same night time routine and everything. I even made game night every night for a while to ensure she was getting a few hours of undivided mommy time.
Well, lo and behold, my dad stepped out of our lives also. I give SO much positive reinforcement, so much good rewards for good behaviors. She’s had three different therapists who she refuses to talk to. We’ve tried behavior charts, daily checklists.
It’s always the small stupid shit. She sings silly songs in the back of the car every time we go somewhere so I know she’s there. I shrug it off to her just being a kid. At the park when I have to stay right by her two year old brother (we live by the water) she’s constantly like “Mom look at me do this!!!” and she’s just jumping. I shrug it off. She gets super loud to talk over everyone, I just calmly ask her to use her inside voice.
But what gets me is the stupid shit. She’s now learned to eat slow. I don’t mean a little. I mean her toddler brother and I both finished our dinner at the same time. She wasn’t done for fifteen minutes after when I finally told her to throw her last apple (that she was sucking on) away. I blew my fuse. She knows EXACTLY how to get me riled up and ticked off and then eventually I blow up and yell!! (And I’m very well aware it’s a ME problem that I get to that point - in no way blaming an 8 year old for me finally losing my shit).
And please for the love re-read the part where I say I DO SO MUCH POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT AND HAVE TRIED THERAPY. I’m looking for REAL advice here from parents who had kids with behavioral issues.
While I greatly understand I am only one person and can never fill the role of mom AND dad, she absolutely HATES and does not respect the one person who’s never left her, does everything for her, pays her bills, loves her. It makes no sense!!!
I’ve also tried behavioral therapy for MYSELF to learn better parenting techniques. I’ve taken parenting classes. All the shit doesn’t do anything! She’s such an angry lil child and does anything she can to make me yell and have the whole house be as miserable as her. As stated, I’ve also tried therapy. Many times. She won’t talk about feelings- SO I made her a mood vs feelings journal with examples! She has a gratitude journal! ( she hates journaling now suddenly) She has a friend she chats with on the phone, a tablet she plays games on. We’re not poor, we’re not struggling. I totally get being angry at her dad for leaving all the time but for the love of god I’m getting ready to just go to the store for milk (totally a joke, but holy crap!!).
WHAT ELSE CAN I TRY?!?
I also have tried the end of day review talks about behavior and quickly she learned that if she acted out we would have talks about it every time and her brother would be ignored while she gets all the attention.
I feel like I’ve been at a breaking point for years now and I just want her to be happy. I just want her to accept that she has a brother and that will never change. They get along at times but she’s always being a brat “no that’s mine!!!” even though she brings her toys out to the main playing area and plays with his stuff nonstop… idk. Maybe I’m venting and don’t actually think anyone has any ideas. I’m worried this child might end up in a mental institution when she’s older. Worried this may be signs of a bigger issue. Hoping this is growing pains that just last an insanely long time :(

Note the person I’m talking about below is the one I wish to marry and there was a point in time, not so distant, when she wanted to - please help me out.
Me (29M) and my partner (29F) broke up a month ago after a 9y relationship. We have known each other for about 20years in total and said we’ll stick to some sort of friendship, as there was no aggression, abuse or cheating in the years we have been together. She said to me after we broke up that she feels the safest with me and it’s such an amazing feeling.
Long story short, she said to me the classic: I love you but I’m not in love with you anymore.
We spoke everyday, doing videocalls (we lived together for the majority of our time together, but a few months back she went back to our home town to work in the family business - I will also move back there in aprox 2 months) and still sharing our everyday stuff with each other - pretty much nothing changed except for the intimacy part, but that was a bit rocky too during past months, so all in all not a massive difference after the breakup.
Note I do want her back, but not in the sense that I wish to jump back into what was, but to start again.
About a week ago, after nights when I couldn’t sleep at all, when I cried like a fucking child, I woke up and wrote a plan, step by step, on how to be the man I always wanted to be, to truly transition to a high status individual. That plan is gold and it literally gave me a world of confidence - not only do I feel I can get her back, but I feel I can live life in a very satisfying way and get what I want, not just from a romantic perspective, but also socially and financially.
Now, here comes the stuff I need help with.
When I started writing up the plan, I said to myself: I’m not going to chase her 1 second longer. So I stopped initiating any kind of contact. I would still reply if she texted or answer the phone if she called, but I’d cut it very short quickly and only communicate the absolute minimum.
She FaceTimed me 3 days ago to say she finally managed to rent a small flat and she can now move out from her parent’s house. Original plan was to rent a flat together in 2 months time when I’ll be there as well, but things changed, but she wanted so desperately to move out and so she managed to find this place. I said: Good for you, I hope you’ll enjoy living there. We then chatted 2 more minutes and that was it.
She rings me again the next day, being very “upset” with me over something I said very recently, which wasn’t true, but only wrongly interpreted. I laughed it off and she calmed down. In the past she would have managed to go under my skin with stuff like that but this time I was really cool about it and super secure. The “anger” was over in a few short minutes.
Today, she rings again. “You never reach out anymore. I always reach out to you. What’s the deal?” - she says Me: I’ve just been super busy, that’s all. Her: You’re doing this on purpose Me: You know I’m super invested in my PhD research and crypto, not to mention the gym and my actual day to day job.
Then I told her about a cool crypto project I started investing in. She was genuinely interested and she doesn’t give a shit about crypto in general.
She knows I’m flying home in 3 days time. She knows I haven’t seen my parents in months. And she asked me to stay with her a couple nights.
She wants me to stay with her for the first 2 nights I’m in the city. She wants to cook me steak. She was like: I found this beef fillet and I think you’d love it.
She also wants me to help her with some small stuff in the new house - like turn on the boiler. I also think she’s a bit afraid to be sleeping alone (but she’s hot, she could have found another man to be there if she really wanted to). This new flat of hers is literally 1 minute away (walking) from my parent’s house in which I grew up, house she slept in probably hundreds of times.
I kept on joking about how I’ll need to check my agenda to see if I can accommodate these nights with her as I’m quite engaged in other night activities. Then she said, still in a playful way, jokingly - Right, then I should check my agenda too, If you don’t have time to spend on activities with me.
WHAT DO I DO GUYS? I’D OBVIOUSLY ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO SPEND ALL MY NIGHTS WITH HER. How do I play this so that I increase attraction? What the heck should I do?
How do I play this right?

I (27f) am 18 weeks pregnant with my boyfriend (28m) and we have such a special and beautiful relationship. I swear he’s the one for me. He’s loved me through so much and cares for me in a way I’ve never been cared for before. I’ve never felt loved like he loves me. That’s why this whole situation is making my head spin.
Last night, right before my boyfriend and I were about to do “the deed” he made a comment to me and I can’t stop thinking about it or crying about it because it really hurt me. I was undressing in front of him and had on some sexy panties and shook my butt in his direction. His initial response was “oh wow I’m so blessed” “that’s a 10/10 right there” but then immediately after he goes “ehhh I take it back not a 10 but a solid 9.8”
I immediately spin around and said “huh? I was a 10 but now I’m not??” He brushed it off as a joke but that really hurt my feelings. I ended up feeling really self conscious and ended up turning off all the lights because I didn’t even want him to look at me anymore. I felt like that was his way of subtly telling me he doesn’t find me attractive or something…. Idk. The point is that my feelings got so hurt and I felt like I’d been cut to my core. I told him it hurt my feelings and ended up bursting into tears while trying to explain why it hurt me and I felt so stupid because I know what he said wasn’t all that bad but in my mind it’s like “why would you build someone up only to then tear them down by saying “nah never mind. You’re not a 10, you’re only a 9.8” to me, that’s a really mean thing to do. it’s stupid I know but I can’t stop thinking about it.
I have cried so many times since this whole thing happened because my anxiety is bad and the comment just triggered a bunch of things from previous relationships that were abusive and I just can’t seem to get over it.
But I know he’s not a bad guy and I know he loves me so why can’t I even look at him without wanting to cry now??? Is it the pregnancy hormones coupled with a big emotional trigger or something? I’m crying my eyes out even writing this out now because I fear my emotions have gone too far overboard and ruined this special thing we have together.
I hung out with him today and when I initially saw him I felt a twinge in my chest that signaled I was about to cry but I choked it down as to not spoil our time together. But after about 30 ish mins I just couldn’t hold it in anymore and ended up bawling my eyes out again. He ended up apologizing again even though he’s apologized so many times since it happened. Sincere, heartfelt apologies that I know he means with every fiber in his being, but I still am so hurt.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me or why I can’t stop crying about it though. I love him so much and I don’t want to break up with him or anything. I just also have not stopped crying for a few hours now and I’m so worked up and worn out. All these what ifs are in my mind about what if my emotions end up ruining this relationship. What if he gets sick of me and leaves. What if I’m too much. Blah blah blah.
Has anyone else been through something similar?
Any words of encouragement are welcome.
Idk I just needed to see if im being overly Emotional or not. I’m having a really hard time with it.
Thanks

In order to commute to their job they have to drive through the desert. One day, while commuting their car breaks down. They decide to get out and start walking for help.
While walking, the first man shouts “wait a second!” and runs back to the car. He brings back the car radiator. Man number three days “why’d you do that?” Man number one responds “geez you gotta smarten up. There’s no water here in the desert. We can drink this if we need to.”
They walk a bit farther and man number two shouts “wait!” and does the same, he runs back to the car. He brings back several mirrors from the car. Man number three says “what are the mirrors for.” Man two responds “you really need to smarten up. We can use these to reflect sun and signal any planes that fly over us that we need help.”
They walk a little more and man number three shouts “wait!” and runs back to the car. He brings back one of the doors to the car. Both other men look at him confused and ask what the door is for. Man number three says “wow so I need to smarten up?! You guys are dumb. We’re in the desert. When it gets cold at night we can close the window!”
(Heard this joke ages ago and it was more geared toward countries so I took that part out to be less offensive)

My BF and I eat most meals together when we're not at work. When I cook I like to make several servings worth and save for leftovers. But unless I proactively separate and put away what I want to save for later, BF ALWAYS will eat whatever is left after I serve myself, even if it's multiple servings.
I'm not necessarily mad because I think he's eating too much. He's a grown up and can make his own decisions about his diet. But it is annoying when, say, I'll make 6 servings worth of pot pie, take one serving for myself, and watch him load the entire rest of the dish onto his own plate.
I will say that he usually asks me if I've taken all I want first, and since I usually don't go for seconds I'll say yes. So I guess I do technically give him the go-ahead. Sometimes I'll respond yes, but I wanted to save some for lunch tomorrow. He'll reply along the lines of "Oh...well, how much did you want to save?" and then take the rest of whatever I don't section off to save for later. Which isn't a big deal, but it feels weird to me that I have to physically put away the extra portions instead of him just not taking All Of It every time.
Another issue is when I bring home a treat/special snack and offer some to him, if I don't specify exactly how much I'm willing to share he'll inevitably end up eating most of it. Like a couple weeks ago I brought home a loaf of banana bread my coworker made, planning to make it my breakfast for the next few days. But BF took my offering him a slice as permission to eat 90% of it within 24 hours. What I was planning to make last several days was gone in less than one!
I said something for the first time with the banana bread, and chastised him (mostly in a joking tone) for barely leaving me any and could he please make sure he saves more for me next time. He apologized and seemed like he meant it, but the next night when I made dinner he once again took the entire rest of the dish after I served myself one little portion of it. I almost made another comment but I worry that anything I say will come across as a judgement on how he eats so I held my tongue.
I'm thinking my best solution is just to continue being proactive about putting what I want for leftovers away ahead of time, but it's annoying to feel like I have to essentially hide food away in order to ensure that I actually get to have my fair share of the dish later on. I want to say "FOR GOD'S SAKE STOP EATING EVERYTHING!" but I know it will sound like fat shaming and his feelings will be hurt.
WIBTA for saying something?

Starting off in 2022, I was 10 years old turning 11 later that year. I was moving to another state with my parents but my parents left me with my grandma on my dad’s side so they could move our things to the house. Btw my grandma loves me, my older sister and cousins so much she’s just chill with us doing anything with her permission and without monitoring us on devices as such. Well actually we do need permission she just mostly says yes. She also has 4 iPads at her house she lets us use.
Me being 10 years old with everybody talking about TikTok I wanted the app as well. But my parents were against it since it’s owned by the Chinese government. But since I was staying at my grandmas with full access to my grandmas iPads my and my older sister we downloaded TikTok. My sister and I always loved gacha life videos so we made gacha TikTok accounts. And when you are a gacha TikTok person there are other gacha tiktokers will talk to you and try to collab with you. (I know because I would do this and others would do this to me) One day I see this one gacha tiktoker on my fyp. I liked his video and he caught my interest. I watch almost all his videos and follow him. He sees that I followed him he watches my videos likes 1 or 2 and 1 or 2 of my comments on his videos, he follows me back.
We start talking everyday. I find out that he was 14. Let’s call this guy Kenny (after my dead best friend who is a cat). Kenny asks how old I am because he told me how old he was. I’ve made friends with gacha tiktokers before and a lot of them left me and stopped being friends with me because I was 10 years old. (Just so you know it didn’t occur to these kids that I was 10 because I would talk much older than I actually was, I would cuss, make inappropriate jokes that stuff) Being reminded and hurt from what happened before I lied to Kenny that I was 13 and he believed me.
We were friends for about a month from May 23rd to sometime in June. I very quickly grown attached to him and had gotten a crush on him but didn’t say anything because I felt guilty since he had a boyfriend and I had a girlfriend of soon 2 years. Because I developed a big crush on him I broke up with my girlfriend on June 27th. Me and my ex girlfriend gotten into a fight and he supported me through it until we figured things out. I fell for him more. Later on I hinted to him that I liked him since he broke up with his boyfriend. He then gets another boyfriend I get really sad about this. I then get a girlfriend. Who I think was 14 or 15 we get along well. The thing was that she had a boyfriend who was suicidal. But she cheated on him with me because he said that he would end himself if she left him. I felt guilty about our relationship because I still have feelings for Kenny, and my girlfriend has a boyfriend she’s cheating on with me.
Later in July I’m about to leave my grandma’s house to finally move to the house I currently live in now. So I make a video saying goodbye I give kenny my Roblox username so we can chat through there and in the caption I confess that I have had feelings for him. Later he messages me in Roblox about that and I apologize. I start messaging him every day with no response so I give up.
Later in summer of 2023 I would go back log back on to my old account. I would talk to him again, I gave him my discord and we talk again. Later he ghosts me again. This year back on February 21st 2024 he tells me he stopped responding because I’m annoying with a laughing emoji. I cried all night for hours because of someone I full heartedly believed was my friend didn’t like me anymore. I was going through reasons why one of them being “maybe it’s not him because he shares accounts with friends“ or “maybe I’m too energetic and need to slow down.” I could no longer see him as the best friend I’ve been missing my whole life, but now as the guy who never liked me in the first place.
Now that you’ve read this of course you’re gonna be like “What do you mean your past is a lie? What past?” I’m getting there. So through the months we weren’t talk I would listen to tiktok audios and in my head I would see myself in situations with him and have these conversations and moments in my head to a point where it felt like it was real. Same thing with my ex girlfriend i mentioned who had the suicidal boyfriend. This got so bad to a point where I made up a whole story about Kenny and this ex girlfriend of mine. So when people asked me ”what was the best year of your life so far” or “what did you do during this year” I would tell them my made up past about what happened. But only the parts with Kenny and not my ex girlfriend. I only told one person about the ex girlfriend and that was my recent ex boyfriend and I told him of what happened between me and her. I even told him one of the fake parts of our relationship that I made up in my head.
Yesterday, I was watching vent tiktoks from YouTube and listening to it in the background. As I was listening to the audios my mind hit reality and all the delusions I made in my head about my past hit me like rock. None of it ever happened everything that I thought was real never happened. All the conversations, all the moment they were never real. Now I don’t know what to do with myself, I no longer know who I am anymore and now I just feel numb.
I’m gonna make another confession or really just something I want to talk about but I can’t tell anybody. That also adds on to why I feel this way.
I don’t know what to do with my life anymore, I don’t enjoy anything as much as I used to and now I’m not even a person. Like I’m someone but I’m no one, just a body with a soul but theres nothing inside.

I’ve spent 2/3 of my life trying to debunk this one or come up with a reasonable explanation.
When I was in 5th grade I rode the bus with a girl who was a grade or two below me. We lived on opposite sides of a rather large apartment complex but could still walk to each others’ homes. Let’s call her Mika. Mika was born in Romania and had moved here a few years prior to me meeting her. She had heterochromia. Mika had brown eyes, but half of one of her irises was blue. This is relevant later. Her family was…off. I went over to her apartment a few times to hang out with her and remembered seeing a lot of unusual decor in her home. Lots of candles, a few alters, and a lot of taxidermy. Her mother would get very upset anytime she brought friends over, so typically she would sneak myself and a few of our other friends in anytime her mom was out shopping. My mom was pregnant at the time and often felt sick so I never brought my friends over unless she was out shopping or at the doctor’s. She had never met Mika.
A lot of the other kids were scared of her or felt uneasy around her. None of our mutual friends could explain why. I did too at times for some unknown reason, but as a fellow outcast we stuck by each other’s sides.
After a few months of knowing each other she started telling me that her family followed a belief system similar to paganism. I forget exactly what she called their religion, but it wasn’t Wicca/Pagan or any other “common” (for lack of a better word) spiritual belief system. Mika started claiming she had special powers. I immediately called bull and told her to prove it. She responded by saying that she would shape-shift into a cat and visit me later that evening.
My family and I lived on the third floor of our apartment building. There were no fire escapes, balconies, or anything like that. We barely even had window ledges.
As a side note, I loved cute stuff. Hello kitty, Care Bears, My little pony, all that good stuff. My “best friend” at the time was very into fashion and loved to act like a high schooler. The few times she saw me in cartoon PJs she’d make jokes. So, I stopped wearing anything like that to school or sleepovers almost a full year prior to me meeting Mika.
I went to bed at my normal bedtime of 9:30 wearing some care bear pajamas that my mom had bought me a week prior. Nobody had seen me in them aside from my parents. Around 3am that night, I woke up to hear scratching at my window. I jumped out of bed, looked out my window, and saw a black cat staring directly at me. The cat was sitting on the very thin window ledge and raised its’ paw at me as if it was waving at me. Freaked out, I told myself it was a dream and went back to sleep.
That morning while my mom was cooking breakfast, she asked if I had heard anything weird outside the night before. I asked what she meant.
“I saw the weirdest thing last night. I heard scratching at my window. I got up to see what it was and saw a black cat on the window ledge! It looked like it was trying to open my window!”
I sat there in silence unsure of what to say. My mom continued.
“I was afraid it was going to fall, so I brought it inside, carried it downstairs and put it outside. You should have seen its eyes! It had one eye that was half blue. I’ve never seen a cat like that before…”
I felt so sick that I couldn’t speak or finish my breakfast. Not wanting to approach Mika after all this, I stood off to the side away from all the other kids until she walked up to me.
“Hey Gloomy Bear, why didn’t you let me in last night?”
I was stunned.
“I could have died! At least your mom was nice enough to take me downstairs.“
I stopped hanging around her as much after that. Our building caught on fire a few weeks after all this happened and we ended up moving a few towns away. I haven’t seen or heard from her since. To this day my mom still remembers the cat. She’ll mention it in passing every few years and make comments about how weird it was that a cat could have gotten up on that ledge.
For the last 20 years I’ve been racking my brain looking for an explanation. If anyone has one, I’d love to hear it.

Okay so i(18F) committed to college 2 months ago. It’s my dream school and I’m so happy about it.
A little over a month ago a girl dm’d me after seeing my picture on the decisions page asking to room together. Our college has a thing where you like fill out a bunch of info about yourself and they match you so that was my plan but I was cool with finding someone this way too.
She seemed a little odd just from insta but nice when I was texting her so I didn’t think much of it. She filled out the paperwork saying we were going to room together like 2 weeks ago, I still haven’t done it but we won’t room together if I don’t do it as well.
But we were talking about what we were getting for the room and she asked if I would split the cost of a Kuerig. I just responded I wouldn’t use it because I hate hot coffee so I assumed that pretty clearly meant no. We were also going to split the cost of a fan for the room. I also said that we should wait to buy anything until like august but then 2 days ago she Venmo requested me for $30 more than half of the fan.
I asked what fan she got that cost that much and she replied “oh I got the fan and the Kuerig.” I was still trying to be nice and said “I’m not paying for half the Kuerig bc I don’t plan on using it.” And she kept telling me stuff like you never know, you probably will need it for like studying and stuff.
I kept trying to just like joke around about it and was like “no I survive on energy drinks I’ll be okay” but she was adamant that I had to split it with her. I said it was a lot of money for something I would never use and she said, “oh I didn’t buy them yet so I could try to find something cheaper.”
I assumed them was referring to the Kuerig and the fan. She still wouldn’t let up so I ghosted her for a few hours while I was with friends and then texted her later Friday night to say “I don’t think we will work as roommates if we bicker this much about something so small. Im still so excited to get to know you when we get there. Have a good one!”
She has been spamming me ever since saying the paperwork is irreversible(which is def not true) and that I need to at least pay her half for the fan. I responded, replying to the message where she said she didn’t buy “them” and she claimed that wasn’t true and she already bought the fan. I don’t believe her because that doesn’t make much sense.
I’ve been ghosting her and started talking to a different girl who dm’d me from the insta post. I feel kinda bad bc she did already fill out the stuff and I am not gonna pay her half of a fan that I won’t use and told her not to buy. Ig I like feel guilty but I kee rationalizing it to myself and everyone irl keeps telling me I did the right thing I guess I just need confirmation from a totally outside source.

I just wanted to get this off my chest.
I have an internet friend that I 'met' years ago through an online original character tournament. We both clicked with each other and were invested in the other's characters so we stayed in touch even after it ended.
Both of us suffer from depression, theirs being a bit worse and combined with PTSD. They are very much open and loud with their condition to the point where they tend to lash out at others. I on the other hand have been far more quiet about my condition. My empathy with others pain causes me to keep my own problems to myself for fear that they will burden others.
I also try my best to be there for others and try and support them or just hear them out if they need it. Granted there's only so much one can do for an internet friend from a different country.
I try to be very understanding towards triggers and will be very mindful about doing or saying things to those I know it will upset. I have the mindset that just because something doesn't seem like a big deal to me doesn't mean its not a big deal to someone else, and I never want to make someones feelings seem stupid or invalid.
In the past I have had to change jobs frequently because of my mental health and it's put me in many difficult situations. Only about last year have I been fortunate enough to find a medication that works. My mental health did a 180 and I got a job I like and feel confident in. My friend hasn't been that lucky, and their condition has only gotten worse.
With all that out of the way, here's where things go down...
My friend asked if I wanted to start a role play with them using our favorite OCs. I happily agreed and we started making up stories and scenarios for our characters to play out together. And it was fun. At first.
Eventually my friend started lashing out at me and pointing out things that were triggering them, things that I hadn't realized were bothering them for well over a year. The main example was the flight response that my characters had to a lot of the traumatic scenarios we put them in. (Running away as they put it) I apologized numerous times and told them if I had known they were so bothered by it I would have tried having my characters react in less triggering ways for them and I would be more mindful in the future. After all, we were doing this for fun and it wouldn't be hard because my characters were already developed out of that response before they even brought any of this up.
I thought that would be that, but as they started realizing how open and accepting I was to try and understand and work with them, they seemed to start taking advantage of it.
They started pointing out more mundane and minor things, like spelling errors or things that maybe I had forgotten in the two years we were doing the story. It was fine at first and I shrugged it off, but then they started making passive aggressive comments about my characters, and then got offended when I tried to offer my perspective or an explanation as to why they would react a certain way.
They would make jabs at my use of conveying body language (Point out I was having a character look down to convey thought "too often") or they would get annoyed by me using certain words too much (mulled as an example) They would get triggered at me conveying my characters reacting realistically to things, but then confused and critical if I tried the opposite approach and have them react in a funny matter in an attempt to make it less triggering.
I also started noticing that it seemed to be ok for their characters to portray toxic behaviors (such as telling one of my characters to go kill themselves) Usually my characters would try and work things out and forgive them, but if mine did anything to defend against this or did anything 'out of line' but tried to apologize and make up for it, they were left to feel guilty and distraught and raked over the coals.
My friend would lash out at me over things that had been ok for a long time but suddenly now bothered them, and their blow ups would always come out of left field for me. They even admitted that things that they were lashing out at me for were things that had been fine at the time they happened. They would always say they felt bad afterwards and hadn't said anything because they didn't want to come off as dramatic or a brat. I assured them on multiple occasions that I would have much rather temporarily and fleetingly thought that that realize later that I was hurting them without even realizing it. (One of the things that they would be fine with one moment and then triggered by the next due to their past experiences was happy family themes, which we both used frequently)
They would then ask if we could take a break for a while which was always fine and then delete those conversations so they wouldn't get re-triggered whenever they would go back to reread parts of the roleplay later and I was always ok with that.
I always tried to be mindful, and they always seemed to appreciate my efforts, but soon it seemed to devolve into them just constantly pointing out mistakes and nit picking any spelling error I made or minor detail I forgot, or pointing out things I would have had no way of possibly knowing.
There were also times where I would try to share say a meme or something with them that would remind me of their characters and thought they would find funny, but all they would do was point out the 'problems' with how well the joke fit. (ie I would send a meme around people texting and they would just point out that it falls flat because one of their characters doesn't have a phone.)
They would then get annoyed and a bit demeaning if any of their jokes fell flat with me, like why do they bother trying to be funny or lighthearted if it only causes confusion or doesn't necessarily make me laugh.
I was starting to feel like I was constantly walking on eggshells around them to the point where I finally asked them to tone down on the constant criticism. They agreed and I thought that would be that.
But it didn't stop.
If anything it got worse. Anything I made a mistake on or minor details I forgot were continuously shoved in my face, and my anxiety was starting to come back. The more anxious I got around making mistakes, the more mistakes I would make and the more it would get shoved in my face.
On a particularly bad night I finally had enough and asked if we could stop for the rest of the night so I could cool off. When they asked why I told them it was because I was tired of the constant nit picking and just needed a night away from it to cool down.
And they just went completely off the rails.
They accused me of accusing them things they didn't do and started going off on how they were just trying to help me and that I was being dramatic and making a mountain out of a mole hill, but no one ever saw the good in them and only ever viewed them as a monster.
And before I could type any kind of response or even process what was going on they started expressing that they were going to commit suicide and that they had been fantasizing about it for a long time anyways.
I panicked.
I didn't know if I had minutes or seconds or if any of my messages would even be seen in time. I started begging them not to go through with it. They pushed back asking why it would matter if they did and I snapped asking why they thought I would just be ok with my best friend killing themselves, and feeling like I pushed them to do it just because I got upset over something stupid.
Eventually it deescalated and they seemed to have snapped out of it, but I was left hysterical and unable to get any rest. My depression came back full swing and I basically turned back into a walking zombie. But despite all that, I still wanted to forgive them.
A couple days later they chewed me out for how I talked them out of it. They said they felt guilted out of it, and that their feelings weren't valid, and that it seemed like they had no right to feel that way. And if I hadn't apologized to them they were going to tell me a month later that we weren't friends anymore. They didn't think I acted professionally despite being a complete emotional mess and that I was being selfish.
I just... felt so hurt and angry and betrayed. All the things I had tried to do to be considerate towards them. All the times they had hurt me and I had forgiven them. All the things I had done to try and help and support them were almost made completely meaningless by one heat of the moment outburst.
I was made to feel stupid.
I was made to feel disposable.
I was made to feel like the bad guy.
And I don't feel like I could ever be open or honest with them again.
But at the same time... I'm just terrified that if I express any of this when they do come back that they'll just spiral again... And I'm not sure what to do. Ive forgiven them but... Im not sure if I can consider them a friend anymore... Or even tell them I feel that way...

So im a newbie.. just getting good enough to run the T2 zone.. last night/this morning I was running my last match with my buddy and I noticed people messaging "I got delta" "I got alpha" and so on through the match.. well we joined up with a rando and ran a few T2 missions.. right around when we realized the storm was counting down and we started looking for an exfil I see someone message "meet at D2" and saw like no joke 6+ people heading tward it.. we had PAP 2, 3plates and regular gas masks... well I noticed if we hit the zipline next to us and head straight through T3 we could hit PAP3 even rando had enough.. and then move to meet up with the group.. I started pinning our path for this plan Well just as we parachuted into T3 rando left... and ill tell yeah i don't know if he was scared of T3 or what but he missed one hell of an experience.. we rolled into D3 right as the strom swooped us.. someone messaged "pop your sentries now" we where standing there with a Group of at least 8 other people (us making 9 and 10) with a ton of sentries posted up.. between our skill level and our lvl 1 masks me and by buddy went down quite a few times and somehow kept getting pulled up.. but i gotta tell yuh that was the most fun ive had on any game in a really long while... I didnt know what to expect but when there was Manglers, Mimics, disciples and lvl3 armored zombies coming at us I realized we where gonna be screwed lol.. but it was totally worth the risk.. thanks to the badass people in that group for my 1st red worm experience.. it was so much fun...
I feel dumb forgetting to start a recording on my Xbox.. Id have a (probably funny) video of a few newbs tryna keep up with a group of pros and epically failing multiple times

I recently became close with this girl; we'll call her Ana. Ana doesn't have many friends and claims to get picked on a lot. She also has this habit of becoming obseesed with any boy she's talking to. it got to a point where she litterally wouldn't listen to anything I said, just replying "mhm" or nothing at all then going back to ranting. We hang out every day in 4th and 5th period, that period being a creative arts class. there’s this guy, Chris, in the same class. Chris and I were very close, we met in August and clicked. We were litterally best friends, but then it kinda felt like more. He would say hello and ask how I am, he would compliment my appearance and creativity, and would always try to be physically close to me and admiting to being flustered when I made eye contact with him. To anyone with eyes, it was clear to see we liked each other. Trying to find common ground with Ana, I brought up possibly asking him out (my sister was pushing me to) to which she said "ewww no don't"
Ana, two months later, randomly decided she wanted to work with me, and by extension chris. As soon as I invited her to our group's brainstorming session, she started acting strange. Everytime I would crack a joke or Chris and I would laugh together, she would be silent, like she was uncomfortable. Our group gets pretty loud sometimes so I figured she was just adjusting. the next day, she began to make little digs at me. I would explain an idea for a scene and she'd interrupt or claim it didn't make any sense. two weeks pass and she asks if I liked anybody. I felt flustered so I jsut said i typically like guys i’m friends with first, (chris is my only close male friend) and she proceeds to tell me she likes Chris, I just said I had a feeling, and resigned. the two are now "dating?", though I never see them talk in class,nothing like the romantic ventures im told about. After I let slip that Chris texted me one weekend for like two hours (platonically) the pettiness started. I'd spend most of the period talking to Chris and the two of us are wandering off and laughing? She'd tell me about how it felt when kissed. He'd ask to see my phone then sneakily add me to his spotify? She'd get up, come back, and announce that she made him accept her spotify playlist invite. She'd see a pic of me and him from august on my phone? She'd give me a tour of an album she has of just pics of him (which he is creeped out). And now just last night sending me 35 texts messages trying to figure out if he's lying to her about losing his phone bc she saw him with an airpod in? and then got mad bc i let it slip that he told me he had two phones, but ig she didn't know that?
I can’t hide my irritation anymore. Every conversation we have is about him, and the little digs are only increasing. It’s like she thinks i’m competing with her for chris. I’ve backed off as much as i can, i don’t even lean into the banter he tries to start bc of the sad puppy look ana gives me after. AITA?

This script is part of my lich partner series. You can find the other parts in my masterlist: My masterlist : u/Virtual-Grade592 (reddit.com)
I put the script in scriptbin for ease of recording (I heard some VA's prefer reading it from there): Virtual-Grade592: [A4A] [F4A] [M4A] It turns out your partner is a lich [fantasy] [magic] [undead] - scriptbin
It's okay to fill this script and make minor adjustments. Please give me credit for writing the script and put a link in the comments so that I can find your audio. It's okay to paywall, but send me a copy of the audio then.
​
(The listener begins their first lesson in learning magic with their partner. For some reason the speaker brought the listener to the middle of a desert)
Aahhh here we are. The perfect place to practice some magic.
[pause]
Why are we in the desert? Because there is nothing out here. There are no people who could spot us doing magic. There is no collateral damage you could cause here. And most importantly, there is peace and quiet. The perfect environment to concentrate.
[pause]
Yeah, this is basically our playground. Here you are free to experiment with magic to your heart’s content. Your magic lessons will take place here.
[pause]
*sarcastic* Aw is the sand too rough for you? Do you find it uncomfortable standing on all this sand? If only there was some mystical power that could help.
[pause]
*teasing* No honey, I won’t do it for you. You’ll have to do it on your own. How else are you going to learn to cast magic?
[pause]
Sweetheart, a demonstration is hardly going to help. I doubt you’d learn anything by just watching me cast magic. You would only see the effect it has, not the process of the magic itself. I’ll show you why it wouldn’t work.
[crack of thunder]
There, a bolt of lightning leapt from my hand. After my amazing demonstration, can you repeat it?
[pause]
No? That’s what I thought. It’s not easy to cast magic honey. You can’t just wave your hand and it happens. It’s like learning to walk or talk. Right now you are stumbling and blabbering, but with time and guidance you can run. So let us begin with a small step at first. The sand is too hot right? It’s not quite a comfortable temperature?
[pause]
Yeah I’ll teach you how to cool it down. First visualise what you want to happen. Imagine the sand getting cool, like when night falls in the desert. The heat seeps away and the grains of sand get nice and cool. Now picture which part of the sand gets cold. Look at your meet. It’s the sand beneath you that you want to cool.
[pause]
Okay, keep that image in your mind. Stay focussed on the cold sand. Now breathe in. *speaker breathes in as well.* Feel the magical energy build up in the back of your mind. Now let the energy flow through your mind, absorbing your image of cold sand. And finally breathe out, letting the magic leave your mind. *speaker breathes out as well.* That’s it, it’s working.
[pause]
*laughing hysterically* Honey, you certainly created something magical. I just didn’t expect you to turn the sand blue. *teasing* Just a bit more practice and you’ll be the greatest painter known to man.
[pause]
*speaker tries to hold their laughter in.* Okay, okay sweetie, I’ll be serious. I won’t laugh, even though you look ridiculous standing on blue sand.
[pause]
*gradually getting serious again.* What went wrong? The frequency of the spell changed. When the magical energy moves through your brain, you change it to a specific frequency, so that it will do what you want it to do. This is why you need to keep imagining what you want to happen. Your brain changes the energy to the frequency of the image you focus on. I think you got distracted or associated cold with blue for a moment. That changed the spell from cooling the sand to changing it’s colour.
[pause]
*uplifting* Oh sweetheart, don’t be discouraged. Magic is genuinely difficult. You already did great by creating any magical effect. Usually when a magician doesn’t have a clear enough image in their mind, because they get distracted for example, then the spell doesn’t work. The frequency is too messed up to do anything. But you still made it clear enough to have an effect. So you did well for your first time. Just keep trying and you’ll get the hang of it.
[pause]
Yeah I mean it. For a first attempt it was good. And I know you’ll get better if you keep trying. So please give it another go.
[pause]
Good honey, picture what will happen in your mind, breathe in, let the magic float in your skull and breathe out. Let the magic float out.
[pause]
Nothing happened? That’s okay. When I try to learn a new spell, it can take hours or even days before I get it right. It’s frustrating trying over and over again with no results, but that is just part of being a magician. This is simply part of the learning process.
[pause]
You want to try again? Wonderful honey, go ahead.
[pause]
Oh you want me to be quiet? Okay, I won’t disturb your concentration.
[longer pause]
Sweetie, I know it’s frustrating that nothing happened again. Just relax.
[pause]
*reassuring* No, you’re not doing anything wrong. It simply takes practice. But I can see you’re getting frustrated, so I think a break is in order. Let’s get your mind off failure. And I have the perfect way to do it.
[the speaker picks the listener up.]
Here you go, you’re snugly in my arms. Now let me show you how amazing magic can be.
[sound of wind as the speaker begins to fly.]
Yeah, you’re not seeing things, we’re really flying. I know this has always been your favourite superpower. See that tiny blue spot down there? That’s where we stood a few moments ago.
[pause]
It’s amazing isn’t it? Being so high up? Feeling the wind in your hair? All this is possible with a little magic. And you can learn this as well. For now it’s too difficult for you, but in a year or two you’re ready for this.
[pause]
*jokingly* You can’t wait for it? Birds learn to fly by jumping off a tree. Would you learn it if I let you go now?
[pause]
*laughing* I’m kidding. You’re safe with me darling. I’d never let you fall. And when you’re down, I’ll pick you back up.
[pause]
You’re feeling better? You’re ready to get back down and try the spell again? Okay, I’ll fly us down.
[wind noises as the speaker flies down and lands on the ground]
Here we are, back on terra firma. Take a moment to breathe. Relax and feel calm. When you feel ready, then begin casting the spell.
[longer pause]
*surprised* Huh? Honey why did you jump back?
[pause]
It’s gotten too cold? Hang on let me feel the sand.
[speaker pulls hand back in shock]
Oof that’s freezing. Congrats sweetheart, you certainly nailed it. In fact you did a bit too well. You’ve made it far too cold for comfort. But that’s a minor problem. You’ll get more self-control over the temperature the more you practice the spell. We can work on that another time, now I think we should celebrate your first success as a mage.
[pause]
*fake pondering* How to celebrate? I wonder. Perhaps like this?
[snaps fingers and fireworks go off.]
Congratulations my dear. You’re officially a spellcaster. And in my opinion you are the most handsome mage in the world. How do you feel?
[pause]
Tired and hungry? That’s understandable. Your first time with magic is intense. Now that you’ve succeeded your first spell, I think we can call it a day. I’ll teleport us back to town and we can enjoy our dinner in peace. Here, hold my hand.
[teleportation noises]

so. my (20) best friend (21) moved into my one bedroom apartment a few months ago. okay let’s back track more actually
i moved to arizona two years ago with my boyfriend. march 2023 i started at a trade school. i met my best friend in (may?) 2023 at school. we were immediately attached at the hip. she would stay at my house for a full week just crashing on the couch. my boyfriend got along with her well. we would drive to school together and hangout 25/8.
she stopped staying with me so much in september 2023 so she could work more. she lived 50 min away. november i dumped my boyfriend of five years. he’s an incredible human, but he’s just not my human (and that’s okay! 🫶🏼). my best friend stayed with me for two full weeks, slept in my bed with me bc i was having a hard time sleeping alone.
everyone at our school said that i broke up with him for my best friend. we always told everyone “hahah we can’t date tho, we’re best friends.” and that rlly was the mindset too
dec ‘23 - march ‘24 we just flirted and had fun with random people. i was trying to avoid women bc i wasn’t ready for a relationship after getting out of such a serious one. i find myself more emotionally fulfilled in a relationship with women, so i was just fooling around with men having fun. my best friend was trying to get into a relationship, but wasn’t clicking well with anyone
(i think in february ‘24 she decided to move in with me. i wanted her to. i set up a lil mini bedroom by cutting the living room in half. she had her own space. i had my own space. we made plans to get a two bedroom in june when my lease is up)
so now we’re here. beginning of april she started to say things like “well what if we are in love” or “let’s just kiss” or “i think we just need to be girlfriends”. we’ve always made comments and jokes abt being in love but i never rlly thought anything of it. i think it’s because i had a boyfriend when we met, so of course she could only be a friend to me. looking back, i may have been falling in love with this girl while i was dating my ex boyfriend. not fair to him at all, but i didn’t even realize any of this was actual romantic feelings until this last month
april 21st i kissed her before she went to work. we were both so nervous bc we are best friends. we’re roommates. how scary to change the dynamic of such an important person in ur life.
here’s where i messed up. i asked her to be my girlfriend the next day. idk why. i graduated school in march ‘24, she still goes there, so i went to school with her to help her with a paper. and i wanted to ask her there in front of all the people that watched us fall in love. i know i could have had another opportunity later on, so idk why i was feeling the need to rush things. i think it was because i was scared she was gonna run away, and i wanted to show her that it would still be the same us. she has some commitment issues, and typically when things get real (me kissing her in this case. it wasn’t just an idea anymore) is when she dips
the plan is still to get a two bedroom in june. so we can still have our own spaces. after all, we only just started dating. i wanna maintain the space apart that we do have so it doesn’t feel so fast and terrifying. BUT, all last week, we’ve been falling asleep in the same bed together watching our favorite show
it just seems so strange. my girlfriend of one week is living with me and kissing me goodbye when she leaves for work in the morning when i’m half asleep. last night she texted me saying she’s terrified of being a girlfriend and is backing out. but when she got home she still crawled into my bed when i was asleep (this is fine with ME, i love sleeping with her, ultimately i was just confused bc of our conversation before i fell asleep) instead of sleeping on the bed in her makeshift room. today she kissed me goodbye before she left the house and that was that
idk. my feelings for her get stronger and more evident every day. i think she’s getting more and more panicky every day. i know she has lots of love for me, i just think it’s so real and terrifying for her. it’s also just such a strange situation. my girlfriend of one week feels like my wife of five years, but also not bc i still get nervous kissing her bc it’s all still so new lol. very weird dynamic that i have never encountered before.
anyway, im sorry this became so lengthy. i have a bad habit of going wayyyy too far in depth with my explanations. i guess im just here asking for some tips and good things to know if anyone has any similar experiences. i’m open to any advice bc this shit is nerve wracking lol
TDLR (tdrl??) : i’m now dating my best friend/roommate and am wanting some advice with the transition of roommate to girlfriend

Hi all. I got recently got a new IUD about a month and a half ago to replace my old one, which was about 5.5 years old (it was still working just fine, but the string was cut way too short and I decided to change it out for intimacy purposes). With my old one, my periods stopped entirely, and I would only rarely spot for a day or two and then go back to normal. This was great for me, considering I'm non-binary and would often joke about it being gender-affirming care. I realized last night though that I started what I believe to be my first legitimate period since 2018. My partner visited earlier this month, and obviously I'm not pregnant, but now I'm going to go visit him in about a week, and given this sudden change I'm concerned whether my new IUD is actually functioning as intended (and if I'm going to have to put up with this going forward, despite my opting for another IUD to stay period-less). I do have an appointment with my GYN on Tuesday where I could discuss this with them, but because it's intended for a blood draw (hormone testing) I'm not sure how being on a period will affect my results.
Tl;dr - Is it normal to get a period after switching between IUDs when you didn't have one before? And will that affect the results of a hormone panel?
Any thoughts or advice are warmly welcomed ^^;;