This is a really long story with lots of context so I'll do my best to organize it into current situation, then his backstory and hers. I'm also not using real names or specific locations for any of this to try and keep this private. This also has some contradicting stories and because of how their relationship is structured relies mostly on information I have gotten from my sister, so I'm telling you the story I got from her first and then adding in what I've found out. I'll try to tell this as unbiased as I can but it's been a huge issue in my family for a long time now and that's a little difficult for me to do.
My (20F) sister (Olivia, 24F) has been dating this guy (Trevor, 25M) since 2021. When they started dating, she talked about him fairly often, sent a few pictures of them, ect., but then after a month she stopped mentioning him/ was cagey when we (me and my mom mostly) asked how he was so we assumed it just hadn't worked out. Then two months later she insisted that my parents (54F and 56M) and I all come to visit her college to meet Trevor before he went into the Army (she lived several hours away from my parents and several hours from my college, so I had to get a bus ticket and my parents had to get a hotel room to do this. We only met him once for dinner). Now they've been dating long distance for three years after a three month in-person relationship. She is in nursing school and is planning on moving across the country (literally opposite corners of the map) to live with him and is not applying to any residency programs outside of the Army base area (limiting her choices a LOT from her original goals and narrowing employment opportunities).
Olivia met Trevor on several dating apps, matched with him, but didn't really want to go out with him. He was really persistent, so her friend convinced her to go out with him. She lied about the way they met to our parents and told them they met at the gym through a mutual friend (she lied to me about this at first too and told me the truth about 3 months after they started dating). At the time, Trevor was working as a used car salesman and living at home (~45 min. away from Olivia's school in a rural area) because his sports scholarship had been dropped before his Senior year due to covid at the college he had been attending out of state. The university was unaccredited (I later did some internet stalking and found out it was accredited), so his credits would not transfer and he would have to start over. He was saving up money to attend school in state at the large college Olivia attended so he could go back to school. **Our state has crazy low tuition costs in-state and a full-tuition scholarship program for good high school GPA and SAT scores. There was also a "feeder" community college that had half the cost per credit hour that a lot of people would go to before the larger university if they didn't get in straight out of high school.**
Olivia told me that Trevor had applied to her college and not gotten in (she later told me he HAD gotten in but been unable to afford tuition). Either way, he decided to join the Army because his father had been in the Army. The Army would take his credit hours and he would be able to finish his degree during his 5 year contract or use the GI bill once he got out. **She is comparing the situation to our father, who joined the Army directly out of high school and used the GI bill to go to college after his 2 year contract because his parents wouldn't pay for school. He was a medic in the military, worked as an EMT through college, and then went to nursing school.** The original plan was that Trevor would be a Green Beret (special forces), he completed basic training and and got several months through training and moved to the secondary base in NC before failing the running portion of a physical by about 10 seconds and being dropped from the selection process. He then decided that he wanted to be a Ranger (another elite position). He got sent back to GA, then to the Ranger school base in WA (it took a couple of months before he was sent to WA). Again, he got partway through the training before failing the running portion of a physical by a few seconds. He is now not sure if he will be continuing Ranger school (failing the physical means no, but commanders may pass him anyways if they think he should continue). For a while, Trevor told Olivia that he might not stay at the base in WA if he wasn't in Ranger school and there were a variety of different bases he could be sent to, including somewhere in Italy, so she wasn't sure where to look for jobs. In the past month, Trevor told Olivia that he would likely stay in WA regardless of the Ranger school results.
Through this all, Olivia has visited Trevor at the different military bases countless times, driving from as far as south FL to NC and putting over 30,000 miles on a brand new car over the course of the 1.5 years she's owned it. Before she had the car, she paid for plane tickets to see him and hotels whenever she visited. At the time, she told me that he was paying for all of these trips because he was unable to visit her, was making an income that wasn't being spent, and she was working to save for nursing school and later was living off of student loans and savings during nursing school. She later admitted to me that she had paid for almost all of the expenses except for food when they ate out together and part of a hotel room one weekend.
A few odd things (to me) between Olivia and Trevor over the course of their relationship:
About a month into their relationship, Trevor got Olivia an over $300 christmas gift. He has not gotten her anything nearly that expensive since, and hasn't sent flowers for things like her college graduation or a severe emergency surgery she had last year. I don't care about monetary value or sending flowers, but I do think it is odd that he spent so much before moving away when he ostensibly didn't have much money, but now that he has an income and military sign-on bonus, he has not spent that much again.
Trevor's father left Trevor, his siblings, and his mother, but Trevor has a hat that his father gave him that he wore often. The hat says "Red Man" across the top of a picture of a Native American man wearing a feathered headdress. He has worn this hat several times around Olivia's friends and they told him they didn't like it and that it was racist. They also asked him to not wear it when he was with them and he refused because it was special to him and his father gave it to him. Olivia then told him to stop wearing it and he eventually agreed (Olivia told me that he stopped wearing the hat after this). A few weeks after this, I facetimed Olivia and Trevor was with her. She turned the camera so I could say hello to him, and he was wearing the hat. I talked to Olivia about this later and she told me that that was the first time he'd worn the hat in a while and it wasn't a big deal. Olivia has always been liberal and never racist, and I am uncomfortable that she was okay with him not only wearing the hat, but being with him while he had it on.
They dated for a little over 3 months in person before he joined the military (recently, Olivia told me that they actually met several months before she told everyone about him and that they actually dated for 6 months before he left). For the next two months in basic training, he was only able to use the phone for 15 minutes total once a week to talk to family and her. Throughout the different training programs he has completed he had sporadic and limited access to phones to communicate, and only in the past 6 months he has had access to his phone to facetime, text, and call (but sometimes he goes for a week or two without phone access). Olivia told me that they wrote letters during the time he didn't have consistent phone access. **I don't think that this is odd, I understand the military limits phone usage, etc., but I don't think they have been able to have an "average" long-distance relationship**
Last year, Olivia drove to GA to visit Trevor the weekend before Valentine's day. He had plans for them to take a pottery class, go on a hike, and have dinner at a nice restaurant. The day she got there, Trevor's barracks had their off-base privileges revoked because one of the guys had contraband. She would still be able to visit him on base though. Somehow, Trevor was able to get off base for long periods of time to her hotel, but unable to do the other activities he had planned for them.
In the past year, Olivia told me that she and Trevor were going to immediately marry when she got to WA so that they could move in together because they had to be married to live together anywhere. I and our dad- who was in the military- told her several times that this was not true, but she insisted it was. Then, his barracks were given an allowance to live off base in apartments because the barracks were being renovated/ rebuilt, so she backed off on the idea of getting married immediately after several long conversations with me. She is still insistent on moving in with Trevor, who lives with a roommate, when she moves to WA.
Some background on Olivia:
Olivia has ADHD and anxiety, and struggled particularly badly with the anxiety/ some depression after being broken up with by the boyfriend she dated before Trevor (he broke it off very abruptly, told her he just didn't love her anymore with no previous indications). Olivia is very pretty (objectively, not just because she's my sister), but had bad acne that she ended up going on accutane for at the time she started dating Trevor and was very insecure about it. She had also decided to not go to medical school, and pursue nursing instead around the same time she met Trevor. This was a very upsetting decision for her because she had been taking very hard courses and was burnt out but had told everyone she was going to be a doctor and thought that she would be letting us down by switching paths. Also around the time she started seeing Trevor, Olivia began being very cruel towards our mother (our mother had been borderline emotionally abusive in the past, but Olivia and I were both in college by then and fixing our relationships with her. She has been much better recently and Olivia and I believe that she had some mental health struggles that went unchecked that contributed). Now, several years later, Olivia told our family that she had acted like that because she was rpd by a friend of her ex-boyfriend's after her ex broke up with her. This person also gave her an STD.
I always believe people who say they have been S A'd, and we believed Olivia when she first told us, but some things have come to light that make me and my family question that. Right after Olivia and her ex broke up, Olivia told our cousin that she had gone out with one of his friends and had revenge/ breakup sex with him because he had also been dumped recently. Once my cousin told me this, I remembered that Olivia had told me about a guy she had a one night stand with after she was dumped. She showed me a picture of him, talked about how cute he was, etc. (no distress whatsoever). I know sometimes people behave in ways you wouldn't expect when a traumatic event occurs to them, but I really don't understand how or why Olivia would brag about this guy if he really did S A her.
Three months ago, Olivia was arrested for stealing a set of sheets from Walmart (incidentally, right before Trevor came to visit her on leave). She used the self check-out and only bought a small $5 item and the sheets. She held both in one hand and scanned each side because she had a cut on the other hand and was holding her wallet with it. She saw a 5 in front of the total number and thought it looked right because the total should have been about $50, paid, didn't get a receipt, and walked out. An employee at the door asked to see a receipt, which Olivia didn't have, so she pulled up her transaction history on her phone to show she had paid. At this point, the employee called the police and took Olivia into an office, where she was questioned and charged with shoplifting. (Olivia can get very emotional and probably got upset when the police questioned her, which may have led them to believe she was lying). Luckily, Olivia has managed to get the charges expunged, but the process is still ongoing. Because of her ADHD, if anyone genuinely made this mistake, I would believe it from her, but Olivia has been improving a lot on organization and being more attentive recently. It is extremely uncharacteristic of her to steal- she was honest to a fault as kids- she would break down from guilt and admit things to our parents that we would have gotten away with if she hadn't said anything.
Right now, my parents have met Trevor twice in person, and I've met him once in person and several times in passing over facetime. I personally don't think that Trevor seems to keep up with my sister or that they make each other shine, and that opinion is shared with family friends and family that have met Trevor. Olivia doesn't mention Trevor in front of our parents often because his name has become a topic of contention and argument between them. My parents don't think Trevor is right for Olivia. She has almost 2 college degrees and plans to become a nurse practitioner in the future, and he hasn't finished college and doesn't seem to have any drive to do so. Olivia is also well traveled and enjoys going to museums, concerts, etc., while Trevor has lived in rural FL his whole life (this is not Trevor's fault, and I don't think he is a lesser person because of it, but I don't see a lot of common ground between them). Trevor has not seemed very well spoken when I have talked to him and I just don't see a lot of qualities in him that Olivia values.
If you've gotten this far, I just don't know what to do. Olivia and my parents have a huge rift in their relationship right now and any mention of Trevor, with her around or not, explodes into a huge argument, discussion, or just icy silence. I want Olivia to be able to talk to me about him, and we are able to discuss things much better than she is with our parents. My parents have also started asking me about Olivia and Trevor because they know Olivia shares more with me, and it makes me uncomfortable because I don't want to betray Olivia's trust, but I'm also very worried about her. I know I can't control her actions and I'm having a really hard time trying to balance supporting Olivia but not supporting the relationship (I'm not going to lie to her about how I feel, but I don't want her to feel alienated or unloved by our family, because that is NOT the case). I also think that Olivia is romanticizing the fact that our parents don't like him because my father's parents had a rift with him over our mother when we were very young (this is a whole other story, but basically, his parents always favored his sister, his sister got (I think) jealous when he did well for himself and married my mother, who his parents initially likes, and she made up rumors/lies about my mother that turned his parents against her (this was way before our mother's suspected mental health struggles, which occured when Olivia and I were in middle/high school).
Please share any thoughts you have on the situation (am I reading too into things, is this not as bad as I think it is?), and any advice you have on navigating the relationships.
Tl;dr My sister's boyfriend lied about the circumstances of him dropping out of college and joining the military. Now I think he's lying about not making it through training for two different special/ elite forces. My sister has significantly changed her behavior and I think she may have lied about a significant traumatic event to our family. Now she is planning on moving across the country to him and moving in immediately. Our entire family doesn't like him and we're worried about her. How do I support her but not her relationship?

The garage door shut with a groan behind us, closing us in the gloom of the single bulb hanging over the car.
Mother took a drag off her cigarette and sighed as she exhaled, the smoke filled the cabin of the Ford and stung my eyes.
“You really disappointed me today, Julianne," she tapped her cigarette in the ashtray below the dash, "you embarrassed me in front of the other mothers at the Ice Cream Social, shoveling down seconds and thirds like a pig. I thought I raised you better than that.”
She took another drag, daintily holding the cigarette between her perfectly manicured fingers.
“I'm going to have to tell your brother about this," she continued, “he'll have to come up with a punishment fit for a pig."
I felt my stomach drop. My kid brother, Thomas, was only six, but could be exceptionally cruel. Mother seemed to encourage him and was deferring to him more and more frequently for how the house was run, especially concerning my upbringing.
"Mother, please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you. I'm sorry I was a pig and ate so much ice cream. I promise I won't do it again, I'll never eat any ice cream again," I was pleading with stone, unyielding.
“Hush your mouth. Go to your room and wait for Thomas," she put out the cigarette and got out of the car, I had no choice but to follow.
It felt like walking to the gallows as I stepped inside the house and headed towards the stairs to go to my room. Thomas had grown fond recently of physical punishment, he obviously delighted in Mother whipping me with a belt or, recently, Mother had allowed him to start beating me with a wooden spoon. He would squeal and giggle like a normal child watching bubbles in the wind while I screamed. I was dreading whatever was going to happen tonight, I chastised myself for eating that ice cream, I should have known she would show up. My sins were always laid bare.
Down the hall, I could hear Thomas watching television in the den. I only got to watch TV for half an hour on Saturday morning and new episodes of Happy Days with Mother and Thomas. Thomas got to watch all the TV he wanted. He could listen to the radio and turntable as much as he wanted, as loud as he wanted. Thomas had an entire room just for his toys.
I entered my bedroom, it was a space I occupied, but it didn't feel like mine. Mother kept it spartan, white walls and white bedspread. A crucifix over the bed and a painting of Jesus over the door. I had my desk and chair and a dresser with some of the porcelain dolls Daddy gave me before he died that Mother let me keep. That was it.
I placed my book bag down and sat on my bed, waiting for Thomas. It was a while, sitting there with nothing but my own thoughts and staring at the open door. I felt humiliated, I was almost thirteen and my entire life was dictated by my brother. Mother kept the house in constant lockdown to keep Thomas a secret. No outsiders were allowed in. I couldn't have friends because she was afraid I would mention him or sneak a friend in to gawk at my brother and tease him for being different.
I would never make fun of him, I was terrified of him. Terrified of what he was and what he was becoming.
Eventually I heard his heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and I felt my heart start beating faster and my palms began to sweat. I kneaded my skirt in my hands, trying to calm myself and dry my palms. His slow arrhythmic footsteps came down the hall and I watched him as he entered the room.
I couldn't help but internally recoil at his appearance, even though I'd known him since he was born, I could never adjust to how unnatural he appeared. Thomas had been born at home and had never seen a doctor, but he was obviously unwell.
He was six years old and was barely over two feet tall, but very squat and wide. His skin was thick and gray, the whites of his beady eyes were yellow and his hair was wispy and white like an old man's, spreading out like a halo around his gargoyle face. A slight odor of decomposition hung about him, it reminded me faintly of garbage cans on a hot summer day. I hated when Mother made me help him with a bath, his skin felt like old brittle leather that flaked onto my clothes in gray flecks. His body was dense like concrete, I could barely lift him into the tub. Picking him up forced his hair into my face where that smell of rot would fill my nose, causing me to gag, silently, so as not to offend him and draw any ire from him or Mother.
Today, Thomas was wearing bib overalls with a red and green striped sweater underneath, reminding me of a grotesque doll.
“Mama says you acted like a piggy today at the ice cream social,” he spoke up to me in his unsettlingly high pitched, yet raspy voice, like a child that smoked as much as Mother, "you need to come down for dinner right now for your punishment for embarrassing Mama."
He turned and walked back down the stairs and I had no choice but to follow his toddling form downstairs to the dining table. We entered the kitchen and the table was placed with two settings. Mother was already seated and Thomas clambered up into his booster seat at his normal spot next to Mother. She took a drag off her cigarette and motioned vaguely to the floor without even looking at me.
Neatly situated on the linoleum was my dinner, not on a plate, but directly on the floor. A pork chop, scoop of mashed potatoes, and a small pile of peas. No utensils, either.
Thomas giggled with glee upon seeing my face.
“You have Mama's permission now to eat like a piggy, now. No hands! Piggies just use their face!” He stood up in his chair and reached out for Mother’s ash tray and flung it out over my meal, peppering my dinner with cigarette ash and butts.
"Oops! Piggies don't mind trash though, do they, Mama?” he giggled and the sound filled me with rage.
"No, they don't,” Mother replied coolly while maneuvering her ashtray back in place and carefully putting out her cigarette before saying prayer.
As angry as I was, I got down on my hands and knees and did my best at eating what I could without using my hands. I knew if I refused, it would be far worse. The whole meal, Thomas made pig noises and would reach down and poke me with his fork, making comments about what a fat piggy I was and how he wished he could roast and eat me. I doubted Mother would even object if he actually did kill me and eat me.
Gagging my way through another bite of ashy pork chop, I felt a warm splat over my head and heard Thomas giggling. I reached up and felt he had dumped mashed potatoes into my hair.
Choking down tears, I asked Mother if I could clean the floor and bathe. She rolled her eyes and excused me to clear the table for them as well while she changed Thomas into his pajamas. Picking him up, she walked out of the room and Thomas stuck his putrid little purple tongue out at me before they made it out the kitchen door.
I silently cried while I cleared the table and washed the dinner dishes. Tears splashed down as I mopped up the mess from my food on the floor. I hated how awful Thomas was. I hated how they treated me. Ever since Daddy died and Thomas showed up, I was their punching bag. I missed Daddy so much.
Mother was kinder then, too. She was still severe, but Dad kept her tempered. After he died, there was a change that came over her. I was only six, so I didn't remember her too much from before, but I did remember her gushing on and on when she was pregnant with Thomas. How the baby was a gift from Our Heavenly Father, that it was going to complete our broken family.
My sixth birthday happened right after Daddy died and I remember sitting on the patio crying while the house was full of people after the funeral, normally he would have gotten me a new doll and a chocolate bar, instead I was forgotten. No doll. No chocolate. Just funeral potatoes and a house full of cigarette smoke from the adults.
Nobody remembered. The closest thing I got was my dad's sister, Aunt Judy, sitting next to me on the patio step for a few minutes of comfortable silence before giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. I don't think she knew her brother was memorialized on my birthday. Next year, Thomas was born the day before my birthday, so it was completely eclipsed as Mother had just birthed her new love into the world…
I stopped mid mop as a lightbulb finally went off. I had never put much thought into the dates before.
Thomas was born a full year after Daddy died. He couldn't be his dad. Who was Thomas’ actual father?
Washing mashed potatoes out of my hair that evening, I ran over and over the timeline. No matter how I parsed it out, Thomas was only my half brother. Going to bed that night, I kept myself awake, going over and over again to make sure. I couldn't remember any men being around at that time, but that didn't mean much. Adults can easily hide things from children. Tension began throbbing through my head and I felt queasy. Mother had always known all of my secrets, able to sniff them out like a bloodhound out or using Thomas to spy. Now I had one of Mother's secrets and I didn't know what to do with it.
First I wanted to confirm it, but it would mean snooping, which was difficult in a house that was rarely left empty. I would have to try finding Mother's calendar book or journal to see if she mentioned any dates or men.
But when could I attempt such a daring maneuver? Thomas hardly left the house. As proud as Mother was of him, she was very cognizant and protective of his differences and didn't want to draw attention to herself or Thomas like that. Mother herself had few social engagements throughout the week and mostly stayed home to watch her golden child.
I finally decided I would take the risk and fake sick on Tuesday, grocery day, so I could stay home from school while she went shopping. All Thomas did all day was watch TV downstairs, so that should give me about an hour to look through her room for clues. I decided to tuck my head down, try to behave as best as I could to avoid their wrath, and wait for Tuesday.
That weekend limped along agonizingly slow. Thomas was in a fine mood and was constantly seeking out a reason to poke me, punch me, slap me… he'd laugh while calling me a piggy with his off-putting wide mouth. I tried to mostly stay in my room and it seemed like neither of them cared.
School on Monday was a relief, but my anxiety ramped up. The consequences would be dire if Mother caught on that I was faking sick to stay home. I didn't even want to imagine how off the leash she'd let my half-brother become in his punishment for that level of insubordination.
I stayed up all night, my stomach was in knots, but I was committed to my plan. Throughout the night, I screamed as hard as I could into my pillow. Screamed until my throat was raw and I could barely talk. It felt cathartic in a way. When it was close to school time, I put on my heaviest flannel pajamas and began doing jumping jacks until my face was flushed and my scalp was soaked with sweat.
Looking in the bathroom mirror before heading down to talk to Mother, I thought I looked pretty convincing, my skin was flushed and sweaty, my eyes had circles under them from lack of sleep, and my voice croaked like a frog.
Heading downstairs, Mother was already feeding Thomas breakfast. I hesitantly stepped into the kitchen and stood there awkwardly for a second, pawing with my pajamas to keep my nerves steady until she noticed my presence and looked up.
“Why aren't you dressed, Julianne?"
"I don't feel well. My throat hurts and my tummy hurts.” My voice graveled out more than I was expecting, I really had hurt my throat.
She strode over to me and placed a cool hand on my sweaty brow.
"You do feel warm. Take an aspirin from the medicine cabinet and go lay back down. I'll check on you later," with that she turned back and walked over to Thomas, who was frozen in place, glaring at me over a forkful of scrambled eggs. The sharp glint of malice in his beady eyes made me shiver before I shuffled out of the kitchen.
I laid in bed, trying my best to look miserable until I eventually heard the faint sound of the television playing in the den as Thomas settled in for his normal daytime routine and the garage door opened as Mother headed to the grocery store. I bounded out of bed and watched the car back out of our driveway and head up the street.
My heart began to pound as I tiptoed down the hall to Mother's bedroom, a place I rarely even caught a glimpse of, let alone entered. I very slowly opened the door, taking great care to not make any noise to alert Thomas downstairs that I was out of bed.
Creeping into the butter yellow room, I could feel my heartbeat pounding in my skull, this was the naughtiest thing I had ever done by far. I stepped onto the rug to help disguise my footsteps and slowly made my way past the brass bed and towards her desk. My hands shook as I opened the top drawer, I pawed through rapidly and found nothing. I checked the next drawer down and again found nothing of interest, just stationary and envelopes.
Finally, the bottom drawer was what I was looking for, a stack of journals from the past decade. I flipped through, trying to find entries relevant to when Daddy died and who Mother slept with afterwards.
I've never fully recovered from what I read.
July 6, 1968
Edgar died today. Car accident. I cannot believe this is real. My light, my life, my anchor... Dr. Benson gave me a sedative at the hospital and I feel so tired. So very, very tired. Why has my Lord forsaken me so?
July 9, 1968
I feel like I am in a very bad dream, I feel numb and disconnected. All the consolation and pity from everyone makes me feel sick. After the memorial, it took everything in me to not break dishes and to scream at everyone to get out of my house. Julianne was moping about crying and I wanted to throw her out, too.
If I hadn't seen my dear Edgar's body in the hospital and held his urn in my own hands, I wouldn't believe he was really gone. I still don't entirely believe it.
I have prayed to God every night asking him to show me why he took my husband from me and I have gotten no answer.
I skimmed over the next few months, as it was more or less similar sentiments repeated night after night. I finally got to an entry that caught my eye.
September 17, 1968
My battle with my faith has been fraught the past few months, but Hallelujah! I feel I can see the Lord again in all his glory and might, for he has given me a way to reconnect to my Edgar!
I was thinking about the night Julianne was born, right in this very home, it was a difficult birth and she struggled to breathe at first. Ingrid, my midwife, made a comment to me that if the baby had failed to wake up on her own, that Ingrid had ways to make sure she would have made it.
I remember asking if it was a medical methodology and she made it clear to me that in certain circumstances, it was a mystical property she used to bring the air of life into a struggling baby's lungs. She gently alluded to being a practicing member of the dark arts. At the time, I felt quite scandalized to have someone like that in my God fearing home. Now I see her as the answer to my prayers! My angel!
On a whim, I called her and asked if she still practiced such techniques. She hesitantly confirmed that she did. I asked, if she could turn breath into the lungs of a child without, could she turn breath into a child that did not exist? Could she magick into existence another child of my beloved Edgar? She told me she had to do some research and she'd be back in touch.
Ingrid just called back after a few hours and said there was a spell she found, but it was dangerous and might have unpleasant results. I said, yes, of course! I trust my Lord and I believe he sent this woman of blessed magick to me for this purpose.
She says we will have to do it soon, in a few days during the new moon. She has a potion to brew, but it is happening! Praise God!
September 23, 1968
The ceremony was last night, and Ingrid believes it was a success, but we will have to wait. It did not take long, only an hour or two. Ingrid lit my bedroom with many beeswax candles and she had me drink a thick and bitter tea that caused me to become quite relaxed and foggy.
From my inner thigh, she cut me and collected my blood in a chalice, with which she mixed quite a lot of Edgar's ashes and other ingredients which I could not glean from my supine position and groggy wits. Ingrid began to chant, calling upon a higher power, as I pleaded with my Lord to let this work. To give me any piece of my Edgar back. She came to the bed and worked the paste between my legs into my womanly chamber, which was very uncomfortable, but manageable with the numbing effects of the tea.
She continued to sit with me and chant, her hand placed over my womb, until she decided at which time it was complete. She left and I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up this morning, I felt quite uncomfortable, my body ached and when I used the restroom, a yellow fluid like pus poured out of me, but no sign of any ashes or blood, which gives me hope it was absorbed into my womb.
November 3, 1968
Praise be to our Lord, Ingrid just confirmed for me that I am with child, I had been hoping so, I had not gotten my cycle in October, but I wasn't sure if that was because of the discharge like pus that was still coming. She told me that was common with this spell and a side effect that would stop after the baby came.
I feel like I am floating on air, for the first time since Edgar left, I feel-
I suddenly became very aware of the feeling of eyes on the back of my head. I had become too engrossed in what was written before me and I had lost track of my surroundings. Very slowly, I turned around and my heart began pounding again as I saw Thomas standing in the doorway holding his wooden spoon in one hand. How had I not heard him?
He pointed at me with his empty hand and screamed, just a pure guttural screech from somewhere deep inside his disgusting little body. He charged at me from across the room, his horrible feet thumping solidly along the rug. He began beating my legs ruthlessly with the spoon, causing my legs to buckle. I crashed down to my knees in front of him, and he began lashing at my face, pulling my hair with one hand while wailing away at my head with the spoon.
I had dropped the journal I was holding and was desperately trying to get a hand on the spoon or push him away. All I could hear was him screaming. My arms flailed and I reached around on Mother's desk and grabbed onto the first thing I found and sank it into Thomas’ neck.
The end of Mother's gold letter opener protruded under his jaw. He went silent and he looked at me with utter shock. He dropped the spoon and collapsed on the ground, clutching at his neck as his thick black blood oozed out from his wound, letting out a stupendous odor of rot that filled the room. He didn't really say anything or make any noise. He just twitched for a moment and I saw his eyes glaze over.
In shock, I stood over his little body for a moment and I watched as he seemed to mummify in just a few minutes, like an ash person from Pompeii dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. Even his blood that looked like shiny oil a second ago became like potting soil on Mother's rug. Reaching out to touch his hand, it crumbled away like sand.
Panic ran through me like a rabbit caught in a snare. Not knowing what to do, I ran. I ran down the hall, changed my clothes, put an extra change of clothes in my backpack and the last doll Daddy had ever given me and I ran. Mother would absolutely never forgive me and I was genuinely afraid she would kill me in retaliation for taking her beloved Thomas away from her. Her precious gift from God. My feet flew over the pavement and took me away from that house.
I called my Aunt Judy from a payphone outside the five & dime, and told her Mother had kicked me out and asked if I could stay with her. She had always had a strained relationship with my mother and it didn't take much convincing that she had kicked out her “only” child. Only Mother, Ingrid, and I ever knew about Thomas.
She gave me a home and took care of me. She never beat me or humiliated me. Even with her love, I was far from okay. For years I would close my eyes and hear Thomas scream, then the sudden silence. I'd see him fumbling at his neck and turning to ash. But I would also remember all the ways he would hurt me and how bad he was becoming. I could never talk to anyone about it, especially not the silent relief I felt I refused to admit to myself. Over time, however, Thomas' screams became a whisper and his silence faded into dust in my mind.
I moved on with my life. I went to college and became a photojournalist, getting to travel the world and watch history unfold. By choice, I never married, but was quite blessed with many beautiful friendships for companionship over the decades. I found balance in my life and a sense of happiness, if not peace. I never could quite stomach mashed potatoes again, though, they always taste ashy to me.
Mother never made any attempts to reach out to me or find me, at least that I'm aware of. Ten years ago, I was contacted by a hospital and they said my mother had been admitted earlier after falling and was about to pass, so she must have kept some tabs on me to know my phone number for her emergency contacts. Apparently she had collapsed in the driveway and a neighbor called an ambulance. I got there and her only words to me were, “take care of him," as she placed a locket in my hand. I opened the locket, Jesus was on one side, Thomas on the other. I didn't say anything to her, just held her frail old hand with nicotine stained nails until she passed in the night. My mother was gone and I felt nothing except a vague sense of relief.
When I got to her house, it was like a time capsule. Other than a newer television, it was just like it was when I'd fled so many years ago. The smell of tobacco smoke hung like incense in the air. It felt oppressive, like a tomb.
I wandered the house in a bit of a daze. The one place I didn't want to go was upstairs. I didn't want to see my old room, or Thomas' room, or Mother's. Putting it off, I went to fix myself some supper, realizing I hadn't eaten in almost a day. I took a pause when I opened the fridge and saw a baby bottle on a shelf. Silently praying she had been babysitting for a neighbor, I fixed myself some toast with sardines and sat eating in the den watching TV. It had been almost forty years and it still felt rebellious not eating at the table and watching TV without permission.
My eyes grew heavy and I finally mustered up the gumption to head upstairs to go to bed. The stairs creaked in a familiar way under my feet and I was taken back to the feeling of dread hearing either Mother or Thomas climbing up. My old room was at the top of the stairs, I saw the door was nailed shut and had rambling quotes about Judas copied from the Bible in my mother's handwriting taped to the door. I sighed gently and turned from the door to head down the hallway, deciding Mother's room was probably the best place to sleep.
I passed by Thomas’ toy room and I heard a murmur from the room. I stopped, curiosity got the best of me and I entered. In Thomas' old toy room was a crib with joyful clown sheets. Dread swelled up inside me as I heard more murmurs and saw the sheets move. Approaching slowly, I peaked under the sheet and gasped.
Tucked inside was what looked like a baby gargoyle, gray and papery looking. Pus leaked out of its milky, bulbous eyes. I pulled back the blanket and saw it had no legs and its arms bent back, like wings on a bird. It was wearing just a cloth diaper, overflowing with tarry looking stool that took my breath away with its pungency, it smelled like Thomas’ blood, but somehow worse. My heart broke for this poor creature, Lord only knows how many years it has been in this crib suffering from its unholy existence.
So this is who Mother had wanted me to take care of…
Not knowing what else to do, I gently scooped him up. Like Thomas, he was shockingly heavy for how small his body was. Placing him on the changing table, I cleaned him and rewrapped his bottom in a clean diaper cloth. It was difficult, he fussed tremendously, crying and flopping around as much as his flipper-like arms would allow. I tried wiping off his oozing eyes and he snapped his mouth, which I saw was full of disturbingly square yellow teeth, trying to bite me. I carried him to the kitchen and rocked him while I heated up his bottle and he became furious with me, almost barking like a dog when my hand would get near his face.
He settled a bit as he fed, but he would still sometimes suddenly spit out the bottle and attempt to bite me. I laid him back in his crib, this abomination in a clown sheet, and I walked down the hall to Mother's room letting out a long sigh.
Combing through my mother's journals in the early hours of the morning, it looked like she tried the ceremony again shortly after Thomas died, but she either lacked Ingrid’s help or didn't have enough of my father's ashes left. Something went terribly wrong. She was vaguer than she had been about Thomas’ conception, but I suspect she had used some of Thomas' remains. The resulting birth she named Isaac.
Mother's journals told a sad tale of her and Isaac's suffering. She never mentioned me, but lamented the loss of Thomas and Dad relentlessly. She was hyper protective of Isaac, as that was all she had left. If her world had been small before, it became microscopic after he entered her life, requiring nearly constant care. According to Mother, he was blind and colicky, sometimes going years at a time without sleeping through the night. She had breast fed him for years, but she had to stop after he grew teeth and began biting her intentionally and feeding on her blood.
I spent a lot of time over the next few days pondering what to do. I had to get her estate in order, she had left me the house, in an obvious attempt to get me to continue caretaking for Isaac, but I didn't want it. I had my own cozy home an hour away from here, filled with happy memories and my possessions acquired traveling the world. Mother's home had a heavy energy I couldn't shake. Her and Thomas were both gone, but the memories of the scoldings and beatings hung in every corner, like cobwebs that would never sweep away.
So, I fed Isaac and kept him clean and tried to keep him company, although he seemed to hate me passionately. I took care of him, all the while thinking about what I was going to do. After a week, I felt resolute in what had to be done.
Gathering up all of Mother's journals in a tote, I made my way to Isaac and picked him up and carried everything to the living room.
The ancient logs in the fireplace meant for display ignited instantly. One by one, I fed the journals into the fire, burning away years of my mother's consuming sorrow. Isaac fussed and moaned next to me the entire time. When the last pages shimmered away into lacy ash, I took a throw pillow off the couch and gently cradled Isaac in my other arm. It didn't take long before he stopped struggling and I felt his little body relax after decades of suffering.
I gently wrapped up a bundle in a clown sheet and placed it in the fire. It burned furiously, like the paper in my mother's journals, and was soon gone. Nothing but ashes and embers.
“Don't worry, Mother,” I said purely for my own sake, "I took care of Isaac for you."
And finally, I felt at peace.

I'm not sure what I'm looking for here...commiseration? advice? is this normal? My partner and I have two girls: 4yo and 1.5yo. We are struggling with our 4 year old. She has been hitting and started throwing things during her tantrums.
She also hates being told what to do (I mean who loves that, but we do need her to follow basic directions). This morning, I asked her not to play with my sunglasses and gave her an alternative pair that she could play with. This is how it went:
Me: Please don't play with my sunglasses. I don't want them to break on accident...here is a different pair you can play with
4: No, I want yours
Me: I'm sorry, they are not for playing. You can play with the others. *I go to walk away*
4: I DON"T WANT THOSE (yells) *throws empty plastic easter egg at me*
I picked her up and put her in her room. she yelled and yelled.
Even though this was a little easter egg, I'm worried about this turning into a bigger thing. When she was hitting, I would take her to her room and tell her "I'm not going to let you hit" and stay there with her until she calmed down. When she gets mad, there is no talking to her..Everything is "no" or she will just say the opposite of what I say...I've just had to let it run its course. She won't really talk about her feelings.
I find myself losing my temper and raising my voice. I hate it. I don't want to be a "yelling" house and I feel like it makes things worse. I didn't grow up that way either. But after so many attempts at redirecting, trying to calm her, I just get to the end of my rope.
She is very stubborn and is addicted to watching TV. I used to use it as a crutch when I needed to get something done, but when the meltdowns would happen every time we had to turn the TV off I just decided it wasn't worth it. We saw improvement in her moods when we cut back TV to an hour or two on the weekends.
I just don't know what to do to help her (and us). We all hate when it gets like this, but no amount of attention we give her seems to help. I am pretty burnt out. I work remotely at home and am responsible for a lot of the household/things related to the kids. My work hours can be flexible (within some reason). My partner is supportive and does help quite a bit with the kids as well. We are a team, but his job is very demanding and he can't always be reached during work hours (6a to 4pm). The four year old goes to pre-school during the week, and the 1.5 year old is watched by grandma while I work.
I've spoken with the pediatrician and he seemed to say that these trantrums were "normal", and should be coming to an end soon now that she is four. Pre-school teacher has said she doesn't act that way in class and has told us she is a great friend to everyone in the class.
She can be a fun and silly girl. She has friends and activities she likes to do. She has a great imagination. She can be kind and loves her little sister. These ups and downs are so challenging and I'm a little scared for the teen-years.
Does any one have any resources? I loosely follow Dr. Becky/Good Inside. I like her, but I have a hard time with the social media parenting accounts and the scenarios with the children going through the scripts perfectly.

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Here are the goodies.

I am excited about the butter. It's dairy free, and you can't tell the difference for most of the baked goods I make!

Total: $19.84

Coupons: None!

Total Cash Back: $20.45

Final Cost: -$0.61 - Money Maker

 
Here is the complete break down and sites used. The stores are listed in the breakdown image. I don't include sites that take any receipt on my breakdown.
Note: Individual deals vary by user for most apps. If you don't have the deals right now, you can try checking back later.
 
My Guides

1. All rebate apps/sites I use and/or know about
   
2. How I do my hauls
   
3. Beginners guide to using rebate apps/sites - for those who don't know where to start
   

 
If you aren't interested in this kind of thing, please keep your comments to yourself. If you don't like what I buy, you can buy different products. If you don't like hunting for deals, you can do surveys, microtasks, games or whatever else you like instead. There is no need to discourage other users just because you aren't interested in the same things!
 
If you don't need feminine hygiene products, toothpaste, soaps, etc - consider donating them to your local women's shelter, church, or school!
 
Some Additional Deals

• Stem Fly Trap Starter Kit - Money maker after IB + SB
  
• $10 back on 7 Kellogg's Products (specific products only) - Military Commissaries only - Refund is a digital gift card (includes Prepaid visa - view the website for all the options) - Expires 5/31/24 - (Thanks to u/Kicker774 for mentioning it!)
  
• Nature Valley Wafer or Breakfast Bars (specific products) - Free after Rebate - PayPal or Venmo - Void in CT, RI, ND, and Miami Dade County - Expires 8/31/24
  
• Nature Valley Lunch Box Bars, Mott's Baked Bars, Fiber One Donuts (specific products) - Free after Rebate - PayPal or Venmo - Void in CT, RI, ND, and Miami Dade County - Expires 8/31/24
  
• Fresh Fizz - Free can at Fresh Thyme - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Painterland Sisters Yogurt - Free at Whole Foods (PA, VA, MD, DC) - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Pepsi - Free after Rebate. Expires 6/17/24
  
• Tru Water - Free can at Walmart - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Cheesecake Factory GC - $10 bonus card when you buy a $50 one - Expires 5/12
  
• Fromm Diner Can - Free after coupon. (It's pet food)
  
• Painterland Sisters Yogurt - Free after rebate. PayPal or Venmo. Whole Foods only.
  
• Beneful - IB + SK
  
• Suja Protein Shake - Free at Target in-store or online.
  
• Coffee (Any?) - You get a coupon for up to $10 in free coffee when you buy 3 participating special K cereals. I don't see anything mentioned about specific brands, but I also don't quite know how it works. - Expires 5/30/24
  
• Gooey - Free after rebate - Venmo/PayPal - (It says Walmart at the top, but it also says "from any store")
  
• Perfect Bar - One free bar - PayPal, Venmo, Amazon - Rebates are often instant
  
• CHKP - Free after Aisle - Fairway, Whole Foods, ShopRite
  
• Dr Elsey's Cat Litter - Up to $22 back on a bag up to 40 lbs when you purchase at Target, Walmart, or a local business pet store. You need to cut out the barcode and mail it in with the receipt. One rebate per person/household/address. Must submit within 90 days. There's also a handful of $1 coupons on this page.
  
• Free bag of Like Air Puffcorn - Refund via PayPal or Venmo. Must purchase in-store or for curbside pickup. Expiration date unknown.
  
• Kellogg's Promotions - Various stuff ranging from coupons for free products, movie tickets, various merchandise, and more.
  
• Various Sampoll offers
  
• Offers on Aisle Referrals: Halfday Rockstar - Buy 2 get $5 back. No gas purchase needed. Can do every other week. Free HOP Water (using my ref will give me another rebate offer) Pays out via PayPal or Venmo
  
• Various freebies on Ibotta.
  
• Various deals I've done in previous weeks can still be done.
  

 

Afterthoughts

Small haul for a small bonus today. I put together that part of the haul last night, and once I saw the $5 / 10 bonus, I completely forgot to check every other app, haha. Technically a slight profit loss meeting my IB bonus today, but that's okay because I'm making progress towards my bigger bonus. If I were to prorate that bonus, that'd be an extra $4.52, so it's definitely worth it.
 
My Beneful finally stopped resetting, unfortunately. Hopefully the Mac a Roni and butter keep resetting. I was going to get a couple other things too just to work towards my big bonus, but my store was out. I'll be going out of town later this week, so maybe I'll get lucky and find some good deals at stores that aren't around here.
 

Time Spent

I glanced at IB last night for like 5-10 minutes. I was planning to finish planning the haul today, but I didn't need to find any more deals. I was in the store for 50 minutes today, which included my regular shopping as well as browsing through the plants and clearance aisles.
 

Food From Deals

Here's an idea: Mix up a white cheddar Mac a Roni, with your choice of ham, sausage, chicken, pork, or one of the vegan meat alternatives. Add a little soy sauce, and some green peas if you wish. You could even add some extra butter and milk (or plant based milk) to make it a bit creamier. Serve with a slice of buttered toast or some Jasmine Rice. Perhaps make a little Banana bread for dessert. (Note: Everything mentioned has Ibotta deals available.)
 
Here's some things I've made in the past: High Protein Tomato Crackers, Hot Sausage Cups, Peanut Butter Fudge & Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge, Chocolate Cherry Pie
 
Do you guys want me to continue showing things I've made using ingredients I got from rebate apps on these posts? Let me know in the comments, or you can vote on this poll if you want to remain anonymous.
 

Mini FAQ

• If you're new or confused - check out the guides near the top of the post. They go into detail about everything.
  
• I'm from the USA and these posts are tailored as such, but this post of mine does list things from other countries that I know about.
  
• My posts are tailored to being money makers to suit this subreddit. There are tons of great deals that aren't money makers but can still save you a lot of money.
  
• A lot of what I get is given away to friends, family or is donated. I do this more as a hobby than anything.
  
• I generally do not share my spreadsheet since the one shown in this post is not the one I actually use (it's put together with a script from my usual spreadsheet) and there are a ton of little things that will give you wrong values if you don't know about them and even then you have to be careful. It's super easy to make a spreadsheet with Google Sheets though.
  

Another Monday... Thankfully, we have a new chapter to make it just a little bit better. At the very least, I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was...eventful. Not too bad, but I did have to drive for two hours just to turn around. Other than that, I mainly focused on chilling and writing.
Edit: It appears that reddit has managed to break things once again with its text editor. Hopefully, everything is fine.
[Previous] [First] [Next] [RoyalRoad] [Discord] —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noria laid the tome down upon the library’s table, stretching her arms in the process. Lorem, who was sitting opposite of her, looked up from a book. The evening was upon them, and soon they all would be meeting back up at the hatchery.
“Are you finished for tonight?” Lorem asked, closing the book and setting it down.
“I think so…” She said, trailing off. In truth she hadn’t made much progress. “I just can’t focus.”
He reached out and put a hand on hers, which was still resting on top of the tome. “Hey, it’s okay. There’s no rush and… You’ve had a lot to deal with. We all have.”
A smile formed as she nodded in agreement. “Do you think Yedril is up by now? I want to go check on him.”
Lorem smiled warmly at her while gently massaging her hand. Hers was so tiny within his grasp…
“Probably. Felix and Eri seemed convinced he would wake this morning.” He let go and stood up. “You want to head down there now?”
She took a brief moment to consider his words, peering down at the tome and her notes. I suppose he’s right… I don’t need to rush and Yedril’s well-being _is more important._
“Sure,” she said and got up. “Let me just store all this and we can head down there…”
The sun was nearly set, casting what was left of its orange and red light over the forest. The moon was already visible, taking its rightful throne for the night. All the while, Noria and Lorem made the trek to the hatchery in almost complete silence.
Well, they were silent. Not so for the kobolds that were running back and forth between the manor and hatchery. Apparently, that was where it had been decided that dinner would be served.
Seeing the light from the building, Noria’s mind wandered… I hope Yedril is alright. I don’t know what I could do to help. She shoved the thought away, she could only put her faith in Felix.
As that thought fell to the wayside, the other one came forward. The egg… I hope it hatches soon.
Noria hated to admit it, but despite everything that happened, she was excited by the prospect. Although this was not how she thought her life would go, she was with Lorem and she had nearly succeeded in taking control of her life.
That is what she had set out to do.
Noria closed her eyes for a single moment, letting her imagination run wild for that brief instant. She pictured herself sitting on the back of a mighty, amber colored dragon, the wind whipping past them as they soared high into the sky.
There was peace.
There was serenity.
Everything felt right with the world. She could imagine Lorem, sitting upon another dragon, and racing them through the skies…
Noria felt a shudder run down her back, the vision felt too real.
I’m committed, just like Yedril, she realized. The thought shouldn’t have surprised her. In hindsight, it made complete sense. She always held a special place in her heart for animals.
But a dragon isn’t an animal, she chastised herself. If Zira, Kyrith, and Ithea were anything to go by, they were people, just like her and–
“Are you okay?” Lorem asked, snapping her back to reality. She hadn’t realized that she came to a complete stop.
Noria gave him a warm smile as she stared up into his eyes. “Feeling better now, actually.”
Before he could respond, she picked up her pace.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solanna ignored the food laid out in front of her. She wasn’t hungry.
Yedril was stuffing himself, enjoying himself. He was laughing at some joke.
Noria was absently taking bites out of her bread. She wore a warm smile.
Lorem was telling a joke, acting it out for effect. His tray had long since been finished off.
Eri and Felix were sitting together at the head of their ‘table.’ There was no table, they were sitting on the hatchery’s floor. Their hands were intertwined, thinking no one saw.
Then there were Zira and Kyrith. Both dragons sat behind their respective partners. Their pile of food was already devoured.
Solanna balled her fists in frustration. Not at any one of them, but at herself. She was more than relieved that her brother was alive and, seemingly, well. But that was what ate at her.
All her life, since Yedril’s birth, she had been his effective caretaker. She did everything for him, and without complaint. How could she? Because she loved him, she wanted nothing more than to see her brother smile.
And he is.
But he wasn’t smiling at her.
It was selfish, she knew, but Solanna could not help but feel jealous. That is why she was frustrated with herself. That is why she did not eat.
Solanna was watching Yedril grow up. She was watching her needy younger brother no longer need her.
This was always going to happen, she told herself. Truthfully, she knew if Yedril’s condition could be managed, or cured, he would quickly become independent. Now, it looked like that was exactly what was happening.
Her vision began to blur with tears. Quickly wiping them away, she stood up and made for the entrance.
“Solanna?” Felix called out.
Suddenly, all eyes were on her.
Forcing a smile, she faced him. “Just going to get some fresh air.”
He frowned. “Everything– Never mind, take your time. When you come back I will make my announcement.”
“I won’t be long,” she responded before continuing out. No one else dared to question or comment…
The night was warm and dark as she walked further away. The only sources of light were the manor, the hatchery, and the moon. At least, on this side of the clearing. The kobolds were probably in their village, having their own celebrations.
And why not? she scoffed. Four dragon eggs about to hatch. She’d worked alongside them just long enough to know how important dragons were to them. It’s almost like everyone has forgotten what happened. Even Yedril!
Her fists balled up once again. Stop it! You’re just mad at yourself and trying to take it out on others. Get a hold–
“What Bow Master doing out?” a voice called out from one of the corners of the hatchery.
“Tracker, is that you?” Solanna squinted as the green kobold stepped into view. “What are you doing here?”
The kobold shrugged. “Tracker bored… What Bow Master doing?”
Solanna studied Tracker for a moment before answering. The kobold wasn’t being completely honest. “Just getting some fresh air,” she decided to say.
“And cry alone?”
Forgetting who she was dealing with, Solanna was taken aback. “W-what? No… I was just getting some fresh air and cooling my head.”
The green kobold let out an amused hum before crossing the distance between them. “No lie, Tracker have best nose, wind tell all to Tracker.” As if to accentuate the point, a gust of wind rustled the nearby trees.
Regaining her composure, the elf countered, “And you aren’t being truthful either.” Solanna narrowed her eyes. “What are you really doing out here?”
Tracker quickly looked around, as if to make sure no one was close by. “Tracker smell weird magic,” the kobold whispered.
“Weird magic–”
“Shh! Bow Master keep quiet.” Leaning closer, the kobold continued. “Tracker think another Master present.”
Matching Tracker, Solanna lowered herself and whispered back. “Another Master? What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Tracker means Master… Like Scary Master, Master’s Master, or Happy Master…”
Happy Master? Master’s…Master– Okay, I have no idea on those, but Scary Master sounds an awful lot like… “When you say Scary Master, do you mean Ithea?”
Tracker nodded.
Solanna pondered that for a few more moments. Okay Ithea is Scary Master… Happy Master, could that be– Kyrith. Wait… “Are you talking about the dragons?”
“Of course, Tracker say that.” The kobold gave her a questioning look.
Right… Of course, so silly of me. _Her thoughts dripped with sarcasm. _Hang on a second. Master’s Master, could that be Zira?! As she made the realization, Solanna could help but let out a laugh.
“What funny?”
“N-Nothing…” She got her laughter under control. “Anyway, so you were saying that you smelled another dragon, then?”
“Yes…” The kobold’s expression became one of annoyance.
“I take it you were tracking the scent and it led you to here?” Solanna asked.
“Tracker follow scent, but Tracker lose scent here.”
“And why do you think it was another dragon? Could it be something else?”
“No,” the kobold answered curtly.
Well, if anyone knows what a dragon smells like, it’s probably her… “Could it be the eggs hatching that you were tracking?” However, didn’t explain why she lost the scent here…
“Tracker don’t think so…” The kobold straightened up. “Now, Bow Master tell Tracker what wrong. Why Bow Master cry?”
Solanna let out a sigh and averted her eyes. She had hoped that she could distract both the kobold and herself from the topic…
“It’s… I’m just mad at myself,” Solanna admitted after a moment.
“Why?”
She winced. “It’s because of my brother, Yedril–”
“Sick Master?” Tracker asked, interrupting her.
“Yes… Since he was born, I’ve been taking care of him. I love him and would do anything for him.”
Tracker nodded. “Bow Master tired of helping Sick Mast–”
“No! That’s not it!” Solanna took a deep breath. “Look, he’s always been sick and I chose to help him. He needed me and I did whatever I could… But now things have changed.”
She felt her nails digging into her palms as she continued. “He’s found someone who could help him more than I ever could. Yedril has friends now, he has other people he can rely on…” She paused as the words struggled to form.
“My brother… He doesn’t need me anymore.”
Tracker listened patiently as Solanna finished, giving the elf a perplexed look. “Bow Master mad at Bow Master because Sick Master no need Bow Master? Bow Master strange…”
Solanna furrowed her brows. “This is why I didn’t want to say anything! I know it doesn’t make any sense! That’s why I just wanted to clear my head!”
The kobold took a step back from her shouting and waited for her to finish. “Tracker sorry… Tracker no mean upset Bow Master.”
Solanna closed her eyes and let out another sigh. “No, I’m sorry… But this is why I stepped away from the others. I just need to work through my feelings.”
There was a long pause as the kobold went into thought. “Tracker may know what Bow Master do.”
“And what should I do?” she asked exasperated.
“Bow Master no more need take care of Sick Master. Bow Master can do what Bow Master want.”
“What I want? That’s the problem! I don’t know what I want… I’ve always cared for my brother, I’ve always done everything for him.
“My whole life has been about helping him, it gave me strength. I never did anything for myself, only him–” Solanna froze.
“I don’t want to live for myself,” she muttered.
“Then don’t,” Tracker said.
“Then for who?”
The kobold gave her a predatory smile. “You have egg hatching.”
Egg hatching?
“New Master hatch soon, new Master need Bow Master,” the kobold answered, as if knowing what she was thinking.
Solanna’s eyes widened. Throughout this whole ordeal, she had completely forgotten about the egg. Now, however, she was acutely aware of a strange tugging sensation. It was weak, it was frail, but it was there.
It’s calling for me… It wants me– No, it needs me.
A vision flooded her mind.
She was soaring through the sky, flying faster than a shooting star. None could match the brilliant emerald dragon underneath her. They were too fast, too agile.
They nimbly dodged the clutches of another. As the vision faded, she could hear her brother cursing as they streaked away…
The egg, _he needs me…_
And I need him.
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Previous] [First] [Next] [RoyalRoad] [Discord]
Ah, it seems we are getting close to the main event. Not much to add, I think the chapter speaks for itself. We still have about 5 chapters to go until we finish up this arc. Starting with the next arc, things will start to pick up speed (well, this is still a slow burn of a story but there will be a lot more happening.)

hello! sharing my story because it was *super* encouraging reading other positive stories during my recovery. firstly, I am 21F. i had my tonsils removed because they were very large after I had covid in the summer of '23. sometimes they caused me pain and sometimes they didn't. they were always uncomfortable, just got used to it. i was def questioning whether or not I needed the surgery because my situation wasn't exactly dire. now that I'm 25 days post op, I'm relieved I got the surgery done sooner rather than later.
day 1 (surgery day) - I had my surgery in the morning, so I'm counting it as day 1. this was the worst day for me. surgery was a breeze. , got adenoids out too. was given liquid hydrocodone at the surgery center. was prescribed oxy and tylenol for the pain. i absolutely could not handle the oxy. i felt too nauseous to eat anything. threw up twice, slept, woke up for a drinking alarm at midnight and pretty much instantly threw up two more times. this def freaked me out, a lot. i had a moment of regret during these hours. my stomach is typically pretty strong. before this surgery the last time I had thrown up was in 2021. so I think that says something. i was worried that throwing up would cause for hemoraging- my biggest fear throughout the healing process.
i stopped taking oxy after day 1. took tylenol only and drank ice water CONSTANTLY. i had an alarm *every* hour throughout the night to remind myself to drink water. the most physical activity I did each day (day 3-6) was a ten minute walk outside.
days 2-6 - i started trying to talk on day 3 because i heard the sooner the better. it hurt to talk a lot. but i did it whenever i could. i was eating barely anything because most things were uncomfortable and a hassle. cold things were preferred here. smoothies with peanut butter, banana & plain yogurt were good for a bit, til bananas started to suddenly burn my throat terribly. could not handle applesauce at all. a lot of popsicles. scrambled eggs were uncomfortable but worth it because they actually made me somewhat full. ramen the same.
day 7 was when things started to look up. i remember i kept trying to make certain things to eat because i was so hungry, but i would try and it would fail over and over again. tried making tofu... i was able to eat it, but it made me burp a lot so i had to stop. tried making ramen, again, kept bothering my throat. oatmeal, which was good before, was now awful. i was losing hope on a meal, until i had the sudden glimmer of hope in a pasta side (those cheap half premade sodium filled things). That pasta side was the best thing. Ever. i was somehow able to eat ALL OF IT. and boy did i. i continued to opt for pasta sides and pasta dishes for the rest of recovery.
day 8-10 was taking 30 min walks each day. talking more but it was def still uncomfortable/sometimes painful. hurt to laugh, tried to not laugh as much as i could. definitely did laugh at times. extremely concerned about hemmoraging. i never looked at my mouth to see the scabs, hurt too much to open my mouth and i was also afraid i would make matters worse by doing so. i never felt any scabs come off. they must've dissolved. i continued to drink insane amounts of ice water and barely sleep throughout the nights because i was so worried. thankfully my dad was taking care of me throughout recovery so i didn't really have to worry about being tired throughout the day, because, well, there was nothing for me to do except rest.
day 10- post op appointment. dr looked at my scabs and told me they look normal and my uvula is still swollen, which i had no idea about. seriously felt no discomfort there.
day 12- went out into the world for a concert. Yep. i had already bought my ticket months ago and decided it was worth going to because of how easy of a concert experience it was. it was an outdoor venue, sat on the lawn with two of my friends, we saw the opening act (the only one we wanted to see, i know, strange) and then left. we were probably there for an hour and a half total. i did accidentally shout once, but to my surprise it didn't cause any pain. i was certainly more tired than i expected to be from the whole experience. like, really tired.
day 15- went out into the world again. got my hair done. felt SUPER dehydrated after not constantly drinking water for two hours.
day 16- i would say i was 75% normal now. i went to a friends house to prepare for the next FOUR DAY music festival. slept through the night with no alarms for the first time since surgery, it was amazing.
day 17- music festival all day (we camped too). i danced and jumped around for probably 6 hours straight. i had alcohol- just one twisted tea, which was all i needed. was able to talk completely normally with no pain. was able to sing as well. was able to shout, laugh, ate a beautiful peanut butter sandwich (first time having bread since surgery).
day 18- i was super tired throughout the day because of lack of sleep from previous night. danced a bit too hard and started to suddenly feel nauseous/overheated. was super worried i was going to have a sudden hemmorage, felt really silly for not exactly taking it easy. i did not have any alcohol. considered going home, but i found ice and chomped it down and slept early instead.
day 21- went back to work. i work 13 hour days where I'm on my feet constantly, so I'm glad i took time before going back.
yes this was a super long recovery story, but these are the posts that allowed me to sleep while i was on day 7-12. so i'm hoping this will help someone else out there in need for a good story!
random notes:
i had no problem brushing my teeth (i read that others had issues)
the weird smell from my scabs was gone by day 7. never really bothered me too much either.
yes it was painful when i would wake up from my alarm to drink water, but after a couple gulps the pain would go away. i think because of how cold the water was, it almost had a numbing affect.
i stopped taking tylenol completely by day 10.
tongue was numb until day 12 or 14.
was able to speak full sentences beginning day 5 or 6.
for me, the pain was honestly never that bad. i don't think anything ever came close to the discomfort/miserableness i felt on day 1 after throwing up so much.
pancakes were AMAZING. had pancakes on day 6 and they probably changed my life because of how good and easy to eat they were. dipping the pancakes in honey was perfect. i ate pancakes every single day from day 6-12. Not kidding.
i lost 6 pounds from recovery lol.... prob all back now tbh
right after the surgery I stopped snoring, stopped sleeping w my mouth open. also, i frequently have sleep paralysis episodes. before surgery it would be especially scary because i always felt like i couldn't breathe during these episodes. but now, since surgery, i had sleep paralysis recently and i could breathe just fine throughout it. a lot less scary when you can breathe.
pasta was also super easy to eat, surprisingly.
welp that's all i got. ketchup still burns my throat lol. let me know if you have any questions at all.

The new chapter will be posted HERE when it's released and scanlated this Monday on 5/13!
READ Chapter 22: https://mangadex.org/chaptef6ae897e-911f-425b-bec8-55ac9c8806d5/1
In the meantime, read the Zatch Bell 2 manga here on MANGADEX where it is kept completely up to date: https://mangadex.org/chapteca8df4e4-e14e-4b40-a4d9-a6a0692b27ef/1
If you want to download the chapters offline, you can stay up to date with our Google Drive https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ny3Ccnx3tUYeYrzZAFoQEKeiDTUnsLO1?usp=drive_link
A brand new chapter was officially announced by the powers that be!
https://twitter.com/BirgdinBoard/status/1788852731459035389
According to the official Twitter account of the publishing company for Zatch Bell 2 (Birgdin Board), the 22nd chapter will be released tomorrow on May 13th!
So here's a brand new megathread for everyone to discuss theories, questions, and comments about the events of chapter 22... which will be available online this Monday on May 13th!
And please remember, you can purchase this manga to support the original creator here:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/B0D3H8YZKH Booklive.jp: https://booklive.jp/product/index/title_id/1102175/vol_no/022
(Expect MAJOR spoilers from chapter 21 in the following recap, of course)
Last time on Zatch Bell 2, the iconic Dr. Riddles had been ambushed by a new pair of invaders seeking to wipe out human partners from the previous battle to decide the demon king... With their sights set on Dr. Riddles and Clear Note's former partner "Vino," Bobby and Bleu managed to infiltrate Dr. Riddles' esteemed medical corporation and infect him with the lethal curse of a Reaper Butterfly. After being told that he only has a couple of hours left to live, Dr. Riddles decides to spend what little time he has left by doing what he does best: educating the youth and fooling them into believing all of his outlandish, whimsical tales. Gash and Kiyomaro arrive sooner than Bleu would have liked, and after Kiyomaro fails to meet her expectations, a high-speed battle ensues. Before either party can escalate the brawl, Dr. Riddles humbly requests Gash to spare Bleu's life, as he can tell she's a good person at heart. Upon hearing this, Bleu's brief look of guilt quickly turns to anger. Feeling patronized, she sets her sights on the mission at hand and gets her head in the game as Gash and Kiyomaro continue to clash with her arsenal of spells.
The battle is sure to heat up in this next chapter, and I'm sure we've all got burning questions as to how this will all turn out in the end! So let's see what we can discuss and get excited about until tomorrow arrives!

1. Now that we know Vino is at school (assuming Dr. Riddles was telling Bleu the truth), do we think school will get out before this battle concludes... or will we be waiting a bit longer before we can finally see how Vino turned out after all these years?
2. We now know that Bleu had tragically lost her life at the young age of 12, and was resurrected by Beliel... Just like all of these other lost souls, Beliel offered Bleu false promises in exchange for her services. What do we think had cut Bleu's life short? Could it have something to do with her seemingly prosthetic left arm?
3. Dr. Riddles is quite confident that the black Reaper Butterfly will fail to take his life. He says that it will only serve as an "attempt" on his life and amount to nothing more than that. Could this simply be him placing a great deal of confidence in Gash and Kiyomaro? Or could he have some kind of contingency plan to ensure his survival?
4. So far, we've seen all manner of colors for the butterflies... Orange, green, red, and black. If the character who controls these butterflies is named Bleu (btw, "Blue" is also fine as a translation for her name if anyone's been calling her that instead), then why is there no "blue butterfly"? Could the blue butterfly actually be Blue's true form?
5. Interestingly, Kiyomaro was concerned that Bleu and Bobby seemed to possess no spell vials that contained anything from Kido. Gash, Kiyomaro, Tio, and Megumi had recently defeated Gunther back in the demon world, who possessed spells pertaining to Zofis, Gyaron, and KIDO. But since those spell vials were attached to hulking creatures and NOT stored in a briefcase, did Kiyomaro overlook them? Are they still with Tio, and is the resistance working to detach those vials from the giant minions? If so, what are the chances that we might see Tio and Megumi appear again to drop these spells off for Dr. Riddles to use once Kido inevitably gets revived through one of the sarcophagi that Apollo's holding onto?
6. When Beliel said that there was a new plan in the works, a strange figure was shown materializing on one of his screens... This entity doesn't resemble the silhouette of Bleu OR Bobby, so what creature could that have been and how will they come into play?
7. Gash told Ashuron that he needed to know more about a Thunder Dragon Egg... and we still haven't followed up on that for almost a full volume now. Does this mean Gash has a secret weapon of a spell up his sleeve, and do we think Bleu and Bobby might be enough to push him into using it?
8. We know that Green Butterfly is apparently capable of releasing spores that distract and confuse everyone around them. If Green Butterfly can do all that... what in the world can this Red Butterfly do that has Bobby so on edge? Does anyone have any theories?
9. The most recent spell that Bleu ended up casting was "Rozaria Gidoruku". The spell seems to belong to an ancient demon girl named "Kalura" from the stone tablets arc, but at the same time... it contains what is unmistakably the name of Karudio's ice-based transformation spell. Do we suppose these roses are going to see some kind of additional effect involving ice in some way? If they don't, then this could be the very first time that there's been a true anomaly in the spell terminology that was established in the series since the beginning.
10. It's been quite a while since we've had an OFFICIAL colored page. Do we think there's a good chance of one popping up in tomorrow's chapter? Either way, you can be sure of one thing... if a colored page DOES appear in tomorrow's chapter online, it will be by Makoto Raiku and his team and will not be a fan-made contribution. If we have fan-made colored page contributions, they will be kept exclusive to the Google Drive from now on and will be clearly labeled in a separate folder to prevent any confusion. :)

A lot of the time when the anime movies come up, I’ll usually see people praising its incarnation of Godzilla, even those that shit on the rest of the movies. Now I can get behind hyping up Big G in all his appearances, because it’s motherfucking Godzilla. Bro’s a giant dinosaur that fucks shit up with his atomic breath, and will either be delivering the most soul-crushing terror you’ve ever felt or having you cheer on as he supplexes another giant creature. But I’ve decided I’m done toeing the line, and I’m just gonna come out and say it: Godzilla Earth isn’t a standout of the anime trilogy to me. He’s not one of the better parts of the movies, he’s not being wasted in the films (at least as he is), he’s not a cool new idea for a version of Godzilla, he’s just as much absolute garbage as the rest of his source material.
Let’s start with a basic summary: Godzilla Earth is the main version of Godzilla that features in the Netflix/Polygon Pictures anime trilogy of films. This Godzilla has a unique origin as being a plant-like organism, the “end result of natural selection on Earth” that has adapted the best traits of many other creatures on Earth through horizontal gene transfer. To put it another way: he’s like Ultimate Lifeform Kars from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, but just naturally came out that way, is a kaiju instead of a human looking dude, and has no effective representation of that.
Godzilla first appeared in-universe in 2030, after humanity had been dealing with decades of kaiju attacks. Godzilla, as Godzilla is wont to do, quickly established himself as the baddest bitch around by systematically annihilating all life he came across, from humanity to the other kaiju. Nothing that anyone threw at him, even when the aliens showed up to try and fail with MechaGodzilla, did anything at all. By 2045, Godzilla had so thoroughly dominated the planet that the United Earth organization (composed of humanity and the two shitty, weirdly human alien species that showed up) could only try to launch a space colonization project and abandon Earth to Godzilla to survive. Godzilla reigned supreme, and spent the next 20,000 years terraforming Earth to become his domain, which included growing to be 300 meters tall, having a random mini-clone be created from cells of his that split off in the form of Godzilla Fillius, and then other small creatures known as Servum.
Now that we’ve covered the basic history of Godzilla Earth, let’s address the elephant in the room: from top to bottom, he’s a total fucking loser. Zilla arguably has more going for him than this guy, and I don’t mean the thundercock gigachad animated son there, I’m talking about the shitty CGI one from the movie.
First off, there’s the design. Godzilla Earth has a new origin unlike any other Godzilla, as stated above, by being an entirely natural plant-based organism that has evolved to represent the pinnacle of life on Earth. Sounds pretty cool, right? You would imagine then, that this Godzilla would have a new, creative design that reflects this origin well, while still being recognizably Godzilla, right? Nope, it’s just a crappy reskin of Monsterverse Godzilla. You could tell me that the anime’s design came from one of those achievement award skins in a video game based off the Monsterverse, and I would genuinely believe you. At best, the spines more closely resemble leaves then the irregular dorsal patterns, but man, that shit is weak. What’s worse is that the film’s concept art shows the designers played around with Godzilla’s features to represent different animals as the endpoint of Earth-based life, but decided to go with the most boring option possible. The models from the art style of the trilogy certainly didn’t do this guy any favors either…
It’s insane to me how badly this bungles what should be an easy layup. In the medium of animation, where the sky's the limit on what you can be doing, and in a story that gives care blanche to work with, Godzilla Earth somehow comes out as the most soulless and bland version of itself it can possibly be. Nothing about this design meaningfully expresses to me what this version of the G-Man is about whatsoever. Look at the other Reiwa’s: Monsterverse Godzilla looks like what it’s supposed to be, a version of Godzilla that naturally existed as a giant prehistoric animal. Shin Godzilla looks like what it’s supposed to be, a reinvention of the original’s concept of a creature terribly burned by radiation. Minus One Godzilla looks like what it’s supposed to be, a dinosaur that has been forcibly mutated by the atomic bomb and modern update to the iconic Showa/Heisei design. What’s the takeaway from Godzilla Earth? That you shouldn’t expect creativity or anything compelling from these movies?
What really gets me here is that while not the exact same, the creators of the trilogy did have a possible inspiration that was sitting right there for them to use: Biollante, one of the most popular kaiju of the franchise. On a visual level, Biollante’s two forms almost perfectly represent the origins of this creature and the themes behind it: a rose that has been mutated by Godzilla’s cells that has become a monstrous creature in its own right, a cautionary tale of what genetic engineering could lead to just as Godzilla himself was a metaphor for the atomic bomb. Obviously, it would be foolish to just try to replicate Biollante, but the point is that we’ve already seen how well a plant kaiju can potentially work out in this very franchise. Yet apparently, that’s too tall of an order for the anime trilogy, I guess.
Then there’s how Godzilla Earth actually interacts with the world around it. Again, in the medium of animation, many of the normal potential issues with making a movie or series with Godzilla go away: you don’t need to worry about the stilted or artificial nature of suit movement, nor do you need to worry about how the CGI will come out in live-action. The balls have been removed from your jaws to go to your court for you to dunk as you please. But as usual, the anime trilogy goes down the most painful route possible by having Godzilla Earth…just fucking stand there the whole time.
I’m not fucking around here, the Spongebob meme is entirely an accurate description of the range of Godzilla Earth’s movement. This bitch spends almost all of his screen time just sitting on his ass, barely moving around with the slightest waddle whenever the film decides there should be a paltry effort at action or to break up the terrible plot. I have seen newborn infants with more well-defined and fast-paced ranges of motion than this colossal tub of dirt. Godzilla Earth could never touch any version of Kong solely by how they’d be tapdancing around him like nobody’s business and take all the time they’d like climbing on him and taking potshots without fear of reprisal. It’s most blatant when the final film is insulting the collective intelligence of the audience by pretending Godzilla and Ghidorah are “fighting” when Ghidorah’s wormy little heads are biting Godzilla, and Big G is just floating in the air like he’s a stiff action figure being held up by a toddler while releasing the mild groans of discomfort of a middle-aged father on the verge of developing IBS.
I’m not saying the guy needs to have the acrobatic agility of the Showa era or the power walk of Heisei’s, but come the fuck on. Give us something to work with here. To again give comparisons: MV Godzilla’s movements are based upon how actual animals like bears fight (and as of GxK, wrestlers), reflecting its origins as a gigantic animal that’s part of the ecosystem of the world like any other. Shin Godzilla is awkwardly shuffling around and colliding with shit in its path (still more dynamic than Earth btw), because it’s a creature in a state of constant mutation and pain with no real awareness of the world around it. -1 Godzilla is deliberately seeking to cause as much damage to humans, and forced to be much more stiff from its radioactive burns compared to the natural movements we saw on Odo Island. But Godzilla Earth clearly was made on a shoestring budget by digital artists suffering under the cruel hand of Ellen Degeneres-esque directors.
It also doesn’t help that this dude has pretty much nothing going for him in terms of actual showings. Now sure, a lot of the abilities Godzilla Earth has sounds impressive on-paper: being the tallest Godzilla by far. Basically having his own A.T-Field with some electromagnetism thing. An incredibly powerful and precise Atomic Breath that can punch through the atmosphere. Charging up a roar that can generate a massive shockwave cone. Creating a plasma shockwave simply by moving his tail at MACH 3-4 speed with a 600 meter range. Even his own self-generated Burning Mode, that can go up to 3000 degrees Celsius. All of that sounds pretty cool, right?
But from the combination of how utterly immobile Godzilla Earth himself is, the lack of any compelling action sequences, and the exceptionally poor writing of the trilogy, all of that goes to waste. Godzilla Earth spends the majority of his screen time doing absolutely nothing at all, and otherwise performing what abilities he has that require him to be non-sedentary (hint: not many) at a glacial speed. It’s not like that glacial speed is one of the examples of giving the kaiju a sense of scale and weight either, the fucker is just a goddamn steamroller.
Nothing Godzilla Earth does feels like it has any real weight or power behind it, both because the story is so weak and the kaiju himself just is doing buttfuck all. Look at how Godzilla moves around Japan in the original movie, Shin or Minus, and how terrifying and awesome all of the destruction is. Because even if those are much smaller Godzillas that are constrained by the live-action medium for their time, they still feel much more powerful and dynamic because the movie actually lets them be doing shit. Or in Heisei, Millenium, and Monsterverse, where Godzilla is beating the shit out of other monsters-again, much smaller and limited by their medium, but they feel far more powerful because they’re in a movie that was made to actually give them a sense of power and might.
The closest Godzilla Earth gets to any kind of real display of power like its other incarnations is at the end of the first movie, where the humans are realizing Godzilla Fillius was just a branch off from the original. Here, we see him decimating the surviving forces as they try to escape, displaying an incredible degree of power in his destruction as the biggest Godzilla yet, with Haruo impotently screaming like the little bitch he is. Yet even that barely compares to any other action sequence in the franchise, because A.) nobody gives a single fuck about these characters to feel anything for them being attacked, B.) Godzilla Earth himself basically came out of nowhere with little to no real foreshadowing as the movie has framed Godzilla Fillius as the “true” Godzilla the whole time, C.) the setting is just a bunch of fauna that Big G is towering over which limits the ability to convey the power behind his actions compared to cities, and D.) all of the above points regarding how lame Godzilla Earth is I’ve been talking about. Then you remember this is the best showing the guy gets in this nihilistic edgepiece of a trilogy, and you realize it’s all just a deeper and deeper wellspring of shit. Doesn’t help that this scene just has some wannabe-Death Note choral music instead of the proper Godzilla theme.
So yeah, Godzilla Earth is a total loser from the perspective of being a Godzilla, or just a kaiju in general. Now let’s talk about why he sucks in the story.
In the hilariously bleak plot of the anime trilogy, Godzilla is framed as a sort of “natural punishment” for humanity, as a natural blowback to all of the shitty things humans have done to the planet and each other. It’s suggested that this happens to all civilizations one way or another, with the albino-human-aliens having Ghidorah as their version, and the dark-skinned-human-aliens having…well it’s never actually said, since the films are totally uninterested in them in any meaningful way, but MechaGodzilla seems to be their current one. The only way to survive in the face of these destroyers is to basically give up and accept it, and begin worshiping giant moth eggs.
Now, there’s a lot of pretty blatant problems with this, but let’s focus on Godzilla Earth for a moment. If we follow the thematic idea of him as a form of punishment from the Earth itself towards humanity, it stands to reason then there would be a starting point, right? That this character, who originated as a symbol of the horrors of nuclear weaponry that Japan faced, and since evolved to represent different aspects of the darkness that humanity holds, would have an equivalent origin or starting point to his rampage?
Well fuck you if your answer to the above was “yes”, because that’s not what happens. Godzilla Earth, for all intents and purposes of the anime trilogy, is just a random plant that grew up to teabag humanity and take over the world. There’s no actual origin given for how Godzilla Earth became what it did that actually connects it to being the end result of the waste and folly of humanity that emerged as part of the natural order of things. Godzilla is just a really fucking big plant in this continuity, and not, you know a terrible victim of humans destructive tendencies like say, a nuke getting dropped on him. I guess because that would be thematically coherent and fit into the lore of the franchise.
Within the trilogy itself, Godzilla serves as pretty much nothing but a plot device for the story to move on at certain points. While you could argue that this has been a common role for Godzilla in previous films if you want to use whataboutism, Earth goes the extra step of blatantly existing only for that given how little he does in the story.
The most action Godzilla Earth performs in his story-appearing amid other kaiju and slowly overwhelming them and humanity-happens in the prologue of the first movie as the setup for the trilogy. What could have been a trilogy in its own right (that almost certainly would actually have something to do) is relegated to the starting point of the series and never comes even close to doing anything comparable. The entire first movie is centered around the humans being focused on his off-spring, with no real foreshadowing of Earth himself being around until right before his reveal.
The next two movies just have him, again, passively standing around and occasionally lumbering a bit when the movies want to pretend there’s action going on. The dude literally just waits for when the plot needs him to be doing something. If the human characters actually had anything resembling a good story, or there were other monsters around for them to fight in the interim that acted as other offshoots of Godzilla Earth, this might not be such an issue. But as it is? Absolute fucking L of a Godzilla. You can point to shit like 98 and All Monsters Attack as some of the worst showings for Godzilla there is, and they’re still better than Earth by virtue of actually fucking doing stuff.
Taking it a step further, the thematic narrative around this Godzilla actively falls apart when we properly look at the story of the anime trilogy. Godzilla Earth isn’t just some neutral force like in the Monsterverse that’s just doing his own thing without giving a fuck about if the ants below him decide to start shit that ends with them accidentally getting stomped on. The literal premise of the trilogy is that this version of Godzilla already systematically eradicated all of human civilization and every other kaiju around, including benevolent ones like Mothra. He’s only chill in the movies because he succeeded in annihilating nearly all other forms of life a while back.
This is an actively malevolent force that succeeded in destroying everything around it and terraformed the planet so that it was the source of all life. Even the Mothra tribe has to just hide out, and can never actually advance or grow as a civilization beyond being a vaguely orientalist stereotype of cave dwellers whose women still are conventionally attractive waifu even after 20,000 years of evolving to be moth hybrids, without risking Godzilla Earth killing them. Yet I’m supposed to believe that the humans wanting to come back and live on Earth again are in the wrong?
Now sure, Haruo being in the wrong I can buy, because he’s a selfish douchebag obsessed with himself and completely unable to move on from anything at all. But the rest of humanity? They can’t actually want to come back to the home planet that many of them spent most of their lives on, want to get revenge and kill the creature that forced them away as it destroyed everything, or even just want to use technology instead of worshiping Moth? You can’t simultaneously have Godzilla having completely destroyed humanity and all life on the planet that’s not him and is willing to do so again, have him be taking care of planet-wiping threats as the humans reluctantly assist him, and then be this neutral force representing the Earth itself as it changes and evolves. To quote a guy I know, who basically summarized the plot of the movies:

I think the Godzilla Earth movies kind of play out like a movie deep in the texan wilderness where a fat redneck with an enormous shotgun has shot up a whole town and the survivors came back to avenge their parents, but then they have to fight sillicon valleys people looking to demolish the town to build like a big swimming pool, and then religious extremists, and they need to save the redneck so that he can do it

I can’t think of any other Godzilla movie that has actively encouraged the audience to think humanity is wrong to not want to be destroyed by a giant radioactive dinosaur or live in fear of it. Even in the films that most directly paint Godzilla as the consequences of the actions of humans, the message is always one of self-awareness and learning to be better, not just rolling over to get destroyed or giving up on all of civilization as you know it to live in caves. Why the hell should I give a shit about what’s going on here, exactly?
To sum it up, Godzilla Earth is just as much of a dumpster fire as the movies he’s in. His design sucks ass. His movement and sense of scale are as lifeless as possible. His powers are presented in the most boring way imaginable and his size is validation for people who think Godzilla should only be around 50-80 meters at max. Any thematic value or message he’s supposed to have is completely at whack with the story he’s given and placed in. This dude isn’t the bright spot or redeeming feature, he’s just as much of a disappointing piece of trash as everything around him.
TL;DR: Zilla might have lost the battle for live-action Godzilla’s, but his son won the war in the animation front of the franchise, holy shit.

SKIN AND IT'S TYPES:

1. Dry Skin:
   
   • Dry skin often feels tight,
   • rough, and may appear flaky or dull. It lacks moisture and may be prone to fine lines and wrinkles.
   • Skincare Needs: Hydration is key for dry skin. Look for moisturizers with hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and ceramides.
2. Normal Skin:
   
   • Normal skin isn't excessively oily or dry and has few visible imperfections.
   • Skincare Needs: Normal skin needs a basic skincare routine, including gentle cleansing, moisturizing, and sun protection.
3. Oily Skin:
   
   • Oily skin tends to produce excess sebum, leading to a shiny complexion, enlarged pores, and a tendency for acne and blackheads.
   • Skincare Needs: Oily skin benefits from lightweight, oil-free moisturizers and gentle, non-comedogenic cleansers. Ingredients like salicylic acid can help control oil production and prevent breakouts.
4. Combination Skin:
   
   • Combination skin exhibits characteristics of both oily and dry skin types. Typically, the T-zone (forehead, nose, and chin) is oily, while the cheeks are normal to dry.
   • Skincare Needs: A skincare routine that addresses both oily and dry areas is essential. Use products formulated for combination skin.
5. Aging Skin:
   
   • Aging skin experiences a decrease in collagen and elastin production, leading to wrinkles, fine lines, loss of firmness, and uneven tone and texture.
   • Skincare Needs: Anti-aging skincare needs ingredients like retinoids, vitamin C, peptides, and hyaluronic acid to boost collagen production, improve elasticity, and reduce signs of aging.
6. Sensitive Skin:
   
   • Sensitive skin is prone to reactions such as redness, irritation, itching, and stinging in response to various triggers, including skincare products, environmental factors, and certain ingredients.
   • Skincare Needs: Gentle, fragrance-free products formulated for sensitive skin. Use soothing ingredients like aloe vera, and oat extract, and avoid harsh ingredients like alcohol, and fragrances. Patch-testing new products is a must.

SKIN AND IT'S CONCERNS:
1. Acne:

• Acne is a common skin condition characterized by the occurrence of pimples, blackheads, whiteheads, and cysts.
• Actives:
  • Salicylic Acid: Exfoliates dead skin cells, unclogs pores, and reduces inflammation.
  • Benzoyl Peroxide: Kills acne-causing bacteria and reduces oil production.
  • Retinoids (such as Retin-A or adapalene): Help unclog pores and reduce inflammation.

2. Dryness:

• Dry skin lacks moisture and may feel tight, rough, or flaky.
• Actives:
  • Hyaluronic Acid: Draws moisture into the skin and helps retain it.
  • Glycerin: Acts as a humectant, attracting water to the skin.
  • Ceramides: Help repair the skin's natural barrier and prevent moisture loss.

3. Oiliness:

• Excess oil production can lead to oily skin, which may appear shiny and be prone to acne and blackheads.
• Actives:
  • Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs): Exfoliate the skin's surface and reduce excess oil.
  • Beta Hydroxy Acid (BHA): Penetrates deep into pores to unclog them and regulate oil production.
  • Niacinamide (Vitamin B3): Regulates sebum production and has anti-inflammatory properties.

4. Hyperpigmentation:

• Hyperpigmentation refers to areas of the skin that are darker than the surrounding skin due to an overproduction of melanin.
• Actives:
  • Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid): Inhibits melanin production and brightens the skin.
  • Hydroquinone: Lightens dark spots by inhibiting melanin production.
  • Alpha Arbutin: Acts as a skin-lightening agent by inhibiting melanin production.

5. Fine lines and wrinkles:

• Aging skin tends to develop fine lines and wrinkles, particularly in areas exposed to the sun, like the face, neck, and hands.
• Actives:
  • Retinoids (such as Retin-A or retinol): Stimulate collagen production and increase cell turnover, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
  • Peptides: Help stimulate collagen synthesis and improve skin elasticity.
  • Hyaluronic Acid: Plumps up the skin and reduces the appearance of fine lines.

6. Sun damage:

• Overexposure to the sun's harmful UV rays can cause sunburn, premature aging, and an increased risk of skin cancer.
• Actives:
  • Broad-spectrum Sunscreen (with SPF 30 or higher): Protects the skin from both UVA and UVB rays.
  • Antioxidants (such as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, or Green Tea Extract): Neutralize free radicals caused by sun exposure and prevent oxidative damage.

8. Uneven texture:

• Description: Uneven skin texture may manifest as roughness, bumps, or visible pores.
• Actives:
  • Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs): Exfoliate the skin's surface, promoting cell turnover and smoothing texture.
  • Retinoids (such as Retin-A or retinol): Improve skin texture by increasing cell turnover and collagen production.
  • Enzymes (such as papain or bromelain): Exfoliate dead skin cells and promote a smoother complexion.

SKINCARE ACTIVES:
1. Retinoids (Retinol, Retin-A): Derived from Vitamin A, retinoids are potent anti-aging ingredients that promote cell turnover, reduce wrinkles, and improve skin texture and tone.
2. Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid): A powerful antioxidant that brightens skin, fades hyperpigmentation, and boosts collagen production, helping to reduce fine lines and wrinkles.
3. Hyaluronic Acid: A humectant that attracts and retains moisture in the skin, keeping it hydrated, plump, and supple.
4. Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs): Includes glycolic, lactic, and mandelic acids. AHAs exfoliate the skin, improving texture, reducing hyperpigmentation, and enhancing skin cell turnover.
5. Beta Hydroxy Acid (BHA): Such as salicylic acid, BHA is oil-soluble and penetrates deep into pores, making it effective for treating acne, blackheads, and whiteheads.
6. Niacinamide (Vitamin B3): Helps to regulate oil production, reduce pore size, improve skin texture, and brighten complexion. It's also known for its anti-inflammatory properties.
7. Peptides: These are amino acid chains that signal the skin to produce more collagen, helping to improve elasticity and firmness, and reduce wrinkles.

1. Azelaic Acid: Effective for treating acne and rosacea, azelaic acid also helps fade hyperpigmentation and even skin tone.

9. Ceramides: Essential for maintaining the skin barrier function, ceramides help to prevent moisture loss, strengthen the skin's natural protective layer, and soothe dry or irritated skin.
SKINCARE PRODUCTS:

1. Cleanser:
2. Removes dirt, oil, makeup, and other impurities from the skin.
3. Types: Gel cleansers for oily skin, creamy cleansers for dry skin, and gentle cleansers for sensitive skin.
4. How to Use: Apply a small amount to damp skin, massage gently in circular motions, then rinse with lukewarm water. Use morning and night.
   
5. Toner:
   
   • Balances the skin's pH levels, and preps the skin for subsequent skincare products.
   • Types: Alcohol-free toners for all skin types, exfoliating toners containing AHAs or BHAs for oily or acne-prone skin.
   • How to Use: Apply the toner on your fingers and swipe over cleansed face and neck. Use morning and night.
6. Serum:
   
   • Delivers concentrated active ingredients to target specific skin concerns, such as hydration, brightening, or anti-aging.
   • Types: Hydrating serums with hyaluronic acid, vitamin C serums for brightening, and retinol serums for anti-aging.
   • How to Use: Apply a small amount to clean, dry skin and gently pat until absorbed. Follow with moisturizer. Use morning and/or night.
7. Moisturizer:
   
   • Hydrates and nourishes the skin, helps to maintain its moisture barrier, and seals in moisture.
   • Types: Lightweight lotions for oily skin, thicker creams for dry skin, and gel moisturizers for combination skin.
   • How to Use: Apply a pea-sized amount to the face and neck, gently massaging in upward motions. Use morning and night, or as needed.
8. Sunscreen:
   
   • Protects the skin from harmful UV rays, preventing sunburn, premature aging, and skin cancer.
   • Types: Broad-spectrum sunscreens with SPF 30 or higher, available in various formulations (e.g., lotions, creams, gels, sprays).
   • How to Use: Apply generously to all exposed skin areas at least 15 minutes before sun exposure. Reapply every 2 hours or after swimming or sweating.
9. Exfoliant:
   
   • Removes dead skin cells, unclogs pores, and promotes skin renewal, resulting in smoother, brighter skin.
   • Types: Physical exfoliants (scrubs) with particles like sugar or oatmeal, chemical exfoliants containing AHAs or BHAs.
   • How to Use: Use 1-3 times per week, depending on skin sensitivity.
10. Mask:
    
    • Provides targeted treatment for specific skin concerns, such as hydration, or brightening.
    • Types: Clay masks for deep cleansing, sheet masks for hydration, and overnight masks for intensive treatment.
    • How to Use: Apply a thin/thick layer to cleansed skin, avoiding the eye area. Leave on for the recommended time (usually 10-20 minutes), then rinse or remove as directed.
11. Eye Cream:
    
    • Hydrates, firms, brightens and reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles in the delicate eye area.
    • Types: Lightweight creams peptides and caffeine.
    • How to Use: Gently pat a small amount around the eye area using your ring finger, avoiding direct contact with the eyes. Use as per need.

SKINCARE BRANDS THAT I LIKE, USE AND WOULD RECOMMEND:

• Cetaphil
• Minimalist
• The Ordinary
• Cerave
• D'You
• FormulaRX
• Plum
• Dear Klairs
• Beauty Of Joeson
• The Body Shop
• 82 East
• Deconstruct
• Sugandha
• Laneige
• Dr. Sheth's

SOURCES: I've used AI to help edit, compile, and formulate this post.
Link 1
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Link 5

Hey all. I am about 6 months into this absolute nightmare of a side effect and, honestly, it has only gotten worse. At first, post-COVID and post-anosmia, it was the common list of trigger foods. Onions, garlic, cooked meat, chocolate, coffee, eggs, citrus, mint, etc. smelling like sewage or, in the case of coffee, that very specific smell when they're drilling in your mouth at the dentist. Now, not only is the list increasing but so are the smells changing/worsening. I don't think I can list everything specifically, but for example some foods that set me off are peanut butter, berries, juice, and any reheated grains like rice and pasta. But the smells themselves are changing. Instead of it just being the sewage, it feels like each of these foods have a uniquely disgusting smell/taste. Berries are disgustingly sweet and a bit rancid. Chocolate is also grossly sweet but also has a weird taste that makes me nauseous. Reheated rice and pasta smell like straight up cigarettes and burnt food. Peanut butter is just blegh. Onions and garlic are *sweet* sewage. And the rest are just an even grosser version of their original scent. A bit ago there was actually like a full week where this one smell just would not leave my nose no matter what. I can't even put it into words but it was so strong and horrible that I wanted to vomit and would get a headache from it. Not to mention this semester I had a class with this person who sits near me that wore this cologne that set it off so badly I had to cover my nose every day. I felt bad about seeming disgusted by him but the smell was so strong.
I think one of the most annoying things is the amount of people who either can't comprehend it or refuse to believe it. My dad called me "Dr. Fauci" and said it was purely psychological... as if I haven't tried to force feed myself and tell myself a million times "this tastes fine this tastes fine this tastes fine." Some people are like "you're still on about this?" as if it was supposed to go away after a few days. And then when I still eat trigger foods that I've mentioned, they act all smug about it as if I've been playing it up for attention (although I rarely mention it because I've just accepted it). It's like they don't understand I can't just stop eating food completely because of the smell. Like, yeah, I am eating the food I just told you smells like shit. No, I am absolutely not enjoying it but I am suffering from multiple nutritional deficiencies and this is the first wholesome meal I've had in days.
All I want is some garlic bread. And sunny side up eggs. And French onion soup. And to be able to enter any space without immediately picking up a horrible scent from god knows where that nobody else can smell.
Side note: I've heard some people mention Flonase helps... does anybody have experience? My parents are against it because it contains steroids but I'm so beyond desperate. Also, my mom believes the smells are worsening because "things get worse before they get better". Any truth to that?

(Let me try this again…1st got flagged/deleted by mods)
Ok so I wake up weds past, 2 days after I get back from vacation in DR w wifey, to a "your data was compromised, reset all passwords, etc" notification on an investment app. Then I checked my personal email...
From 3:15 to 5:15 the day before I had 57 emails welcoming me to random websites/ subsciptions. In German, Polish, Portuguese, French, Spanish, and English...Rumchata mailing list, Green Egg Smoker, Geneology ID, and 53 other random sites. Nested towards the bottom of this pile of spam was the scam- $1500 purchase at Apple Store in my name w my cc that I obviously did not make. Called Apple Store and cc company and got charge reversed. Spent 1/2 the day resetting passwords for every account I have, cancelling all cc I have, freezing my credit, etc.
So where was inception of this scam, in your opinion? The 3rd party excursion company at my resort or the data breach w my investment app? I need to decide if RE excursion company: give 1 star review on every platform, send letter of complaint to resort management, and pour the mamajuana I bought in DR down my toilet in protest or RE investment app: pull all my funds out and spend all the money on another trip to DR where I'll buy more mamajuana.
Please help me solve the mystery.