How to cut t shirt neckline

So for context, I’m 18M and I’m currently travelling Europe with my dad in a van.
I brought about 8 days worth of clothes so that we can get away with doing washing once a week because it’s only two of us. But by the end of the week I’ve used almost all of my clothes whereas my dad has only gone through like three sets.
Every day I change my underwear, socks, and shirt. My pants I don’t really wash unless I need to wash them because I rotate between a few different pairs depending on what we’re doing that day (like hiking pants for hiking, bike pants if we’re going mountain biking, casual pants for general use etc).
But yesterday when we were doing the laundry my dad said, “how come you always have so much more laundry than I do” and I’ve never really thought about it before because I normally just get changed every day, especially because we don’t have access to showers every single day (being in a van and it’s too cold still to use the cold water shower at the back of the van).
Bearing in mind that every day we’re doing something active so I usually get hot and sweaty.

Hi, I’m interested in looking for a few baguette diamonds for a project but I need a rough estimate of how much these baguette diamonds would cost. Can’t find this info anywhere. People i have spoken to tell me it’s impossible to price non-round cuts because the variables are too many. (I think it’s BS).
I also would like to know what the best proportions and number of steps for a baguette cut would be. I think for instance Rolex figured it out with their 6/9 indices (very long, thin and deep baguettes you see on some hour markers) but I’d like to know if it’s even possible for a commoner to source similar loose baguettes on the market, as virtually all the loose baguettes I could find online are either ridiculously shallow or wide. The prices are all over the place, even on included stones.
Thanks

Hey folks! 🚀 Have you ever dived into the world of web scraping, especially on sites buzzing with data like Bitstamp's trade view? Let me share a nugget of knowledge that might just transform the way you collect data.
You see, when you're dealing with websites that update as frequently as a heart beats in a sprint, the usual HTTP requests just won’t cut it. We're entering the realm of WebSockets, my friends—a protocol that's akin to having a direct phone line to the server, allowing for real-time data dance between you and the server. 📈
What makes WebSockets stand out? It’s all about the speed and efficiency for me. Instead of the traditional back-and-forth with HTTP, WebSockets establish a two-way street, allowing messages to flow freely and instantly. This means you can catch every single change in live trades, peek into the order book, or watch the ticker tape parade without missing a beat.
Now, onto the fun part—Bitstamp's trade view. This platform is a playground for those who thrive on the adrenaline of live financial data. By tapping into WebSockets, you subscribe to a stream of information, unleashing a torrent of data on every trade and price twitch. 📊
Imagine this: instead of waiting for data to refresh, you're seeing it unfold in real-time. It’s like having a front-row seat to the financial markets’ heartbeat. By mastering some basic real-time scraping techniques that leverage WebSockets, you can start collecting this flood of data with precision. It’s not just about the information; it's about capturing the moment it happens.
So, for anyone looking to get their feet wet in web scraping or elevate their game, exploring how to tap into WebSocket-powered sites like Bitstamp’s trade view might just be your next big adventure. Happy data hunting! 🌐✨
Linkt to the full article: https://substack.thewebscraping.club/p/scraping-real-time-data-bitstamp

Apologizes for the long post, some important details to explain in the beginning to help better set the stage to explain things.. So my fiancé and I got engaged back in 2021 after dating for 10 years, being high school sweethearts & moving down south together to start a new life together where it’s more affordable. We’ve always managed to do ok for ourselves & are completely self sufficient. With that said our jobs pay well but we still struggle sometimes.. which is part of the reason why we haven’t tied the knot just yet.
We originally set our date to fall of 2023 back in spring of 2022.. proposed to our bridesmaids and groomsmen, mailed out save the dates, etc. In early spring of 2023, my fiancé ended up getting hurt at work which required surgery on his shoulder.. with the timing of everything this would mean he’d still be in a sling at the wedding.. we made the hard decision to postpone our big day to next fall of 2024 so we could both properly enjoy our big day and sent out new save the dates immediately. (This gave all our guests little over a years notice of the switch)
Jumping to the whole point of this now, December 2023 comes around and my best friend of 18 years gets engaged to her now fiancé whom she started dating right after I moved & barely know aside from the stories she tells me yet I’m OVER the moon for her ! (How exciting I am to have someone to go thru this wedding stuff with who can related !?) She is so excited and starts planning immediately & they tour venues the following week. They toured 2 venues & instantly loved 1 of them and immediately put down a deposit. She tells me right after and sends me pics & it’s this gorgeous venue that is also right on the wateocean. I am so shocked they lucked out so fast and ask when’s the wedding ?! She told me the date LITERALLY 3 weeks before my wedding…
At this point I’m speechless.. I immediately while in a state of shock congratulate her.. I’m so happy for you...
I told this to my fiancé who’s known my BFF just as long as me as we all grew up & went to the same school & he was FURIOUS & hurt.. he said it was selfish & that she basically f’d me over by getting married literally 1 month prior to us. He now wants nothing to do with her and refuses to speak to her again or attend their wedding period due to the disrespect of it all. I’m not a confrontational person & was so hurt by all this.. but knew I had to address it with her.. I waited a week or 2 then explained how hurt both me and my fiancé are & how difficult of a situation this puts us in (given she’s my BFF & knew how sad I was to have had to postpone the year prior) & how it hurt that they could consider his brothers feelings and his big day but not mine ?
(FYI she’s an only child if it means anything & we were so close my parents call her their daughter & I refer to her as my sister… she also told me I’d be her maid of honor whenever she’d get married bc of how close we are.. she was at least smart enough to not throw that on my plate thankfully.. however not to sound arrogant but if our dates weren’t on top of each other I’m POSITIVE she would’ve asked me)
Shel went into “defense” mode and instantly began stating why they chose the date..
1) her fiancés little brother is getting married in 2025 & so he refuses to get married the same year as it’s “not fair to steal his spotlight” if I remember correctly
2) it’s their dream venue
3) the only available dates left for 2024 was that last week of summer or November 2024.. she stated that bc her venue is on the water, she couldn’t do November bc of her elderly grandmother and how she could get sick (which is understandable)
4) they want to start having kids like now so they are in a rush to get married asap
Now this left me in such a weird feeling of confusion, hurt & sadness.. she already agreed to be my bridesmaid 2 yrs ago, our other mutual best friend who is a single mom as her child’s father passed was now asked to also be her bridesmaid too.. we have a TON of mutual friends & guests & with me moving down south 5 yrs ago & having the wedding down here.. my wedding is kinda considered a “destination” wedding as majority of our guests are traveling to our state.
She then tried to smooth it over by saying how she never meant to make me feel that way & then blamed her fiancé bc HE wanted that date & “didn’t give her any other option”… By her blaming it also makes me want to believe her bc he has always been very controlling of her.. constantly makes comments about her weight & says she’s getting fat, calls her 3x a day to see if she went to the gym, gets mad if she ever plays Xbox w me once in a blue moon bc that makes her “lazy” (mind you she’s an LPN and works 12 hour shifts smtns and is ALWAYS on her feet, she never wants to do nothing period- she has gastro issues that cause bloating & HE KNOWS THIS). He always tells her she’s not allowed to cut her hair prior to the wedding bc HE wants it long.. and it’s not like he asks or says it nicely either.. (bottom line, me and the rest of her bridesmaids strongly dislike him for all this and several other reasons which we’ve told her for years but are trying to be supportive bc in the end it’s her life/decisions )
Fast forward a little more, right after I tell her this & she gives me that story.. I tell her I need some time to heal, get over it, etc.. but that I love her bc she’s like a sister to me and I can’t imagine missing her big day or not being apart of it…
About a week or 2 after this, her MOH starts a chat and surprisingly has her bridal shower & Bach dates picked out already.. leaving me with not many options of when to do mine as mine will also be up North since none of my family is down south.. this makes my fiancé even more mad bc now he’s saying how I have to plan around her & this adds to why he was initially pissed bc it takes my spotlight away that I’ve patiently waited for.. so her Bach is May 2024 & shower is June 2024.. wedding last day of August 2024.. I decline her bach bc I can’t afford/take more time off work to travel.. and said I’d aim for shower if I can and yes to her wedding..
my Bach & Shower are now in July 2024.. back for back weekends so I’m up there for a week and a half for both.. (I had no idea how else to make it work at this point so just decided to do it all together.. )
She just had her Bach this past weekend and apparently she fought and said mean things to ALL of her bridesmaids and they are all pissed at her and 1 even dropped out of her wedding all together because of it.. our mutual BFF went and called me in tears when she got home bc of how selfish she was acting apparently & basically told them all that “this weekend was all about her and it’s not like any of them are getting married anytime soon or have anything excited going on in their lives so they need to get their shit together” (this was the 1st night on a Friday after everyone worked an 8+ hour day then drove 4-5 hours to the Airbnb). They dropped so much $ on this trip for her and she got into a verbal altercation with each of the 7 of them about how they weren’t doing enough to “party” and have fun with her the moment they got there.. this same argument continues the next day/night apparently to the point NOBODY wanted to be near her as they felt they’d be her next target. Come morning, everyone packed their stuff & ran home upset that the whole weekend they planned was nothing but arguments and ruined..
After hearing this & the comments she made, it really sent my thoughts racing.. how can she be so selfish to these girls whom I watched and helped from afar plan this whole trip for her? I’ve only been “gone” for 5 yrs and visited at least 1-2x a year since & constantly kept in touch everyday but I don’t recognize this person who’s supposed to be my BFF anymore..
To sum up this whole thing now.. I’m torn.. should I have ever bothered letting my initial hurt of the whole month before our wedding situation go in the first place when I forgave her? My Father, FIL & SIL are just as pissed as my fiancé is and don’t understand how I could just be okay with it all but commended me on being the bigger person to save my 18+ yr friendship bc they couldn’t.. Should I just back out of shower too and or her wedding entirely to save myself the extra stress ? I also have my Bach & Shower in July & her still one of my bridesmaids on top of all this to which some of my other bridesmaids are also mad at her for the situation & also agree w my fiancé who messed up it is… 🤦🏻‍♀️ SOS & please be kind to me if you can.. I’ve been so emotionally all over the place bc of this 🙏🏻🫶🏻

He did not have much, and everything he did have was from after he fled.
Sean, his boyfriend, sat up on the bed, and they both looked at the painting.
It was simple and probably too postmodern for anyone who didn’t understand the meaning.
The painting was a plane ticket, his plane ticket, a name and a bar code, which had saved his life.
Where he came from, men like him were thrown from rooftops.
‘It’ll be ok,’ Sean said, ‘It’s just a symbol.’
‘They said the same thing after the last arms deal, and how many did that symbol kill?’
He thought back to when the plane had taken off, and he’d breathed properly for the first time in his life.
…
It was called the Peace Portal, but essentially it was a tunnel through space-time.
Until then, the technology had only been used by the military, and it was a huge coup for his former government.
He had to see it in action, so he went down to Liberty Square.
The portal was a kind of membrane, like looking at your hand underwater.
The President stood on the stage and gave a speech about the collapse of borders and freedom permeating the hearts of all men.
And then, it was time for the ribbon cutting.
He shivered.
A disembodied hand came from the other side and, with a comically large pair of scissors, snipped.
At this, his former King walked through and shook hands with The President.
…
The first reports surfaced and were quickly labeled fake news by a vast army of disinformation bots.
His boyfriend grew weary of the constant suspicion, and it led to arguments.
‘Go on, say it! I’m paranoid.’
‘Not exactly paranoid, but I’m guarding my tinfoil more closely.' Sean replied.
He didn’t laugh. ‘You’ll never understand; you grew up here.' He gestured around their 14th-floor apartment. ‘Where I come from, if you’re not paranoid, you die.’
Sean kissed him on the forehead. ‘You’re safe now.’
…
It was 2.30 am when the doorbell rang.
He bolted upright.
Sean was in the living room pulling an all-nighter.
‘No!’
It was too late; Sean opened the door and was batted aside by men dressed all in black holding a list.
He had not spoken his native tongue for a long time and, in his shock, could only blurt out, ‘The roof?’
It would not be so bad, he thought, to die a liberated man.
‘The roof is too good for you, scum.’
He was put in a car and driven quickly through quiet streets.
At the last moment, they removed his hood.
‘We want you to see,’ his kidnapper said, ‘the end of your old life.’
The city lights twinkled around him, and in front was the watery membrane. Through it, the visage of the setting sun.
He went to scream, but it was swallowed up as he tumbled through the Peace Portal.

I'm not going to get into the details related to George Santos and the absolute clown show of his career.
But I was watching a story about him and one thing suddenly became perfectly clear, and made perfect sense, you might even say it's predictable despite its utter Madness and the thick fog of bullshit that surrounds everything about him.
He has repeatedly responded to established facts about his past and his actions and his background by just saying no I didn't do that or no that's not what happened.
If I actually went through all of the events and details he claimed about his past and his actions that turned out to be absolute horseshit and easily debunked then we'd be here all day.
But probably the one that stands out in everyone's memory is the fact that he was a drag queen for years, and an ambitious one at that.
Once press got a hold of irreproachable evidence for it, that fact was widely published and caused quite a stir given his location on the map of political ideology. But even though there were photos of him doing it, videos including one of him in drag proudly discussing how many venues where he had performed, and witnesses who knew him then all made public...
Santos just said no I didn't.
He gave the same response when being caught in many many other lies; I mean basically his entire biography is fiction cut from whole cloth. When and how his mother died, where he went to school, where he'd worked, pretty well everything he ever said about himself was absolute gobbledygook and reporters were digging up absolute incontrovertible proof.
But he just keeps saying no I didn't or you miss heard me or I misspoke.
Why?
It just hit me like a ton of bricks that George Santos is not an absolute mad man nihilistically weaving fairy tales for his constituents while assuming the press couldn't possibly uncover the mountain of evidence that disproves everything he says.
Santos was just following in the footsteps of the most successful Republican in more than a decade.
Trump does exactly that. Trump simply denies and dismisses things for which there's unquestionable proof.
Trump makes constant claims that are easily disproven.
And yet nearly half of Americans are 100% on his bandwagon. They have the incredible staggering ability to just ignore evidence and facts. No matter what the proofs are no matter how airtight they just say no he didn't do that because he said he didn't do that.
In a world of politics where there is absolutely no significant meaning given to what's provable or factual regarding Trump, where his followers' ability to blind themselves regarding reality and regurgitate absolute Fairy Tail nonsense like it's gospel is so powerful you could swear they were robots. Droids programmed to only accept particular input and only spit out particular affirmations with no possibility of reflection or serious consideration or even possibly changing that opinion just because they love that guy so damn much.
In a world where that is actually a thing it makes absolutely perfect sense for George to shoot his shot at just saying no to everything proof or not. To simply call people who are pointing out his lies liars.
Because it worked perfectly for the new Republican role model. He would have had at least some chance of pulling it off.
My opinion is that he failed to reach anywhere near Trump's level of safety from incriminating truths mainly because he's just a repellent human being and the accusations included drag which in America right now seems to be on a road towards being legally deemed so heinous as to Warrant the death penalty.
But he tried it.
And it damn well could have worked. That's where we are. Facts and proof mean nothing. If you're on the right team and you hate the right people you can do any horrid inexcusable thing, like taking a bunch of minors away from their homes to another state, passing them around for you all to fuck at parties with your buddies, have that indisputably proven, and still be extremely successful, laughing your ass off while you watch the Rubes who support you telling reporters that they just don't believe any of that stuff because you are one of theirs.
This is a terrifying new landscape where politicians who frankly were always widely believed to be overall a corrupt and crooked collection of individuals, can truly perpetrate the most absolutely horrible acts imaginable, seemingly especially rapes since Matt Gates and Donald Trump are both well known and proven sexual predators and yet our two extremely successful politicians to this day.
And all they have to do say no I didn't do that and the people voting for them immediately become impervious to all proof taking their word as the absolute gospel and closing their eyes and ears to anything that might run counter to that belief.
I don't think it's an exaggeration anymore just say that Trump could pull out a gun and shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue then look at it a crowd of supporters and say I didn't do that and they would all cheer and emphatically agree that no he did not do that.
My God this is depressing. I feel like I could go drink a whole bottle of bleach right now. Maybe put my head in the oven but it's electric so probably won't help.
Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

Im 21F In my past relationships I’ve been cheated on twice , and one of the guys was physically abusive and also molested me and almost raped me too . It was rlly hard to finally get rid of him even after the breakup . He would stalk me and and couldn’t tell any adult because of victim blaming mentality of our society( my “friends” had also kind of blamed me for choosing toxic men) . I was 17 and he claimed to be 19 but later I found out he’s 20 , maybe he was even older idk man .
Anyways cut short to today , I’m blessed with the SWEETEST man (21M) ever like my relationship is cuter than any romance movie . Y’all can’t imagine how safe,happy and secure I am . We’ve been together for 2yrs . Prior to this relationship when I was single , I would get nightmares about the abusive ex and certain Insta reels would trigger me . But I healed myself ( I think so) and the nightmares had stopped and then I found my now bf
He didn’t do anything wrong , he’s literally the purest soul on earth but he did accidentally hit me ( it was srsly accidental, he didn’t see i was behind him and ended up accidentally hitting my face , it didn’t leave any bruise or anything ) And another time he accidentally hit me in a similar manner . We have a 1ft height diff so you can understand . And obviously he was rlly apologetic about it. And ik it’s accidental but i feel like it triggered something in me and now Im getting those nightmares again ( but with his face) and I feel like it’s making me act a little distant with him. Thankfully when i wake up from such nightmares he’s there to comfort me ( we sleep while being on phone call)
Is there anything i can do to fix this ??
Tdlr: my bf accidentally hit me and now I’m getting nightmares of him abusing me like my ex did

Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. - Proverbs 3:7-8
For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. - Ephesians 5:5
To whom shall I speak and give warning,
That they may hear?
Indeed their ear is uncircumcised,
And they cannot give heed.
Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them;
They have no delight in it. – Jeremiah 6:10
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” - Romans 3:18
The fear of the LORD leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil. - Proverbs 19:23
The fear of God is what leads to life, and this is why there are so many passages both in the OT and the NT which are meant to impart that fear of God into us. But the modern church seemingly sees the fear of God as a reproach to them, indeed they seem to only talk about the free gift, but also seem to reject that gift.
For God has not called us to live in sin. He has called us to live a holy life
Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. – I Thessalonians 4:7-8
Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.
Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.
So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God. - I John 3:6-10
The churches should be imparting the fear of God into the wicked, so that they may turn from the ways of death and truly begin to know Jesus Christ. But they only seem to preach that which fills seats and wallets, as scripture warned us about:
But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.
Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.
In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed. – II Peter 2:1-3
Rather than fear God and convey that to others, they come up with every high-minded, theological retort that they can possibly think of in an effort to rid themselves of the very thing that leads to life.
‘For among My people are found wicked men;
They lie in wait as one who sets snares;
They set a trap;
They catch men.
As a cage is full of birds,
So their houses are full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and grown rich.
They have grown fat, they are sleek;
Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the fatherless;
Yet they prosper,
And the right of the needy they do not defend.
Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the Lord.
‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’
“An astonishing and horrible thing
Has been committed in the land:
The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so.
But what will you do in the end? – Jeremiah 5:26-31
“Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know,
and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?
Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord. – Jeremiah 7:8-11
“Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.
“So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. – Jeremiah 7:27-28
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. - I Timothy 3:3-9
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 1:9
Timothy was told to rebuke those who sin in the presence of all so that the rest may fear (I Timothy 5:20), but many leaders in modern churches seek to comfort the wicked in their sin instead. Comfort should be given to those who are remorseful for their sins, not to those who need a swift rebuke before they perish in their sins.
But what are souls compared to dollars these days?
Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the Lord.
‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’ - Jeremiah 5:10
For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. - Job 15:34
I truly hope that even those who take part in turning people away from the way of life will repent, and soon.
The Lord Almighty says that disaster is coming on one nation after another, and a great storm is gathering at the far ends of the earth. On that day the bodies of those whom the Lord has killed will lie scattered from one end of the earth to the other. No one will mourn for them, and they will not be taken away and buried. They will lie on the ground like piles of manure.
Cry, you leaders, you shepherds of my people, cry out loud! Mourn and roll in the dust. The time has come for you to be slaughtered, and you will be butchered like rams. There will be no way for you to escape. You moan and cry out in distress because the Lord in his anger has destroyed your nation and left your peaceful country in ruins. The Lord has abandoned his people like a lion that leaves its cave. The horrors of war and the Lord's fierce anger have turned the country into a desert. - Jeremiah 25:32-38
To think that God treated His first love in such a way over their wickedness, but will spare this lukewarm, money-hungry monstrosity for doing the same things is utterly insane.
But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness.
There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism. - Romans 2:5-11
God does not change. When the people who are supposed to be His are the ones leading others to hell, His fury is just, and it will be vented.
Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. - Revelation 3:2-3

I have the feeling I can't get proper rest no matter how much I sleep. Some people around me seem to be suffering from the same. I guess the sudden heat explains it, but could it be something else? Pollution perhaps?
Yesterday I saw a girl with a 'I identify as tired' t-shirt and it made me wonder if this is a city-wide phenomenon :)

I'm a 27 yr old female. Tl;dr... If I wanted to leave now, they could totally cut off my bank account. I didn't have a joint bank account before. Lady at the bank was saying "it is the same as before... oh AND doing a joint account? My kids are still all on mine." I guess denial is everything. I didn't want that. But didn't speak up, since my mom gave me money to open a new one (I've been sick. Context below.)
Here is a lot of context/rants so read 1st, and skip to 2nd to last paragraph maybe to skim it... Essentially, I have been out of work for a while. I got covid in December, and pretty bad covid too. I already had issues before that, I eat cleanly and am super healthy but have a wonky immune system. I also have narcolepsy with cataplexy (N1,) as stated by a sleep dr. 6 years ago, but I didn't believe him and never followed up. They ruled out seizures and MS and I am terrified of doctors (especially now, after being yelled at by my family for my saying I needed to go to the ER with severe vomiting and vertigo, I have an inner ear thing. It acts up with allergies. Azelastine nasal spray has prevented it so I am happy for that. Humid climates fuck with me too. Before, I thought I was dying. Multiple times this has happened and I was told I would be viewed as "crazy," and they would put me away forever, so I would be better off dying myself. told me to off myself but i blocked out the exact phrasing. because I was panicking AND I COULDN'T STOP SHAKING AND VOMITING CUZ DEHYDRATION. My GP said I should go to the hospital. Praise god, or the universe thank god, I didn't die but, it was bad. Somehow, I may wish I had. But that wouldn't have been very fun.)
After covid, the N1 got worse. Much worse. I already am on high dose stimulant meds for ADHD (which is half of the treatment for N1 anyway and partially why I never followed up 6-7yrs ago, I know I'm dumb sometimes but I just thought it was a fluke.) and have been for a while. I CAN'T STAY AWAKE for things. It isn't depression (well, maybe a bit now, which doesn't help lmfao, because this shit is depressing. But I still WANT to better my life, not consistent with depression... I AM JUST SO FUCKING TIRED AND SLEEPY AND sometimes i can't tell what is real and what is not. Also cataplexy, have it on camera accidentally. And a 30s microsleep. Like this is serious. I just can't properly deal with this until I do a sleep study, insurance changes and I hated the place/organization I was with originally, not for the sleep doctor, but for a multitude of other reasons... wish i remembered that nurses' name so I can report her. It was pulling teeth with my now-retired GP for any basic med too! So, finding a new sleep doctor and study, which isn't for months.) AND THE INSURANCE COMPANIES HATE THIS CONDITION because the drugs to treat it are very controlled substances, and one in particular is V expensive/insurance loves to throw a hissy fit about. (yet another reason why I put it off, but it is an emergency at this point. I pushed as much as I could, I'm just NOT sleeping when/how normal humans should and it is ruining my life yay. I never feel rested. Ever. I pray that I will, on the odd occasion but it's like 0-1/10 in the range of 10 being well rested.)
I'm trying to justify my issues to you guys.
I am living w/ my parents. I lived in another state in college, had a planet fitness membership and GYM MEMBERSHIPS WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE stg. Jesus. Wouldn't let me cancel, I kept pausing it for as long as I could. I'm not about to drive 4hrs to cancel a gym membership, since it was out of state the employees at branches near me either didn't know what they were doing or said I wasn't allowed to do that... But I got sick this year and forgot. Bank account overdrawn. LITERALLY LESS THAN 14 DAYS overdrawn. Part of it was an overdraft fee. AND THEY CLOSED IT. I had been sick for months but was pet sitting and doing SOME THINGS (like selling old clothes, etc.) to keep a positive balance. I just got REALLY WAYY too sleepy to care about anything. And was screamed at, my father came at me physically and told me to sleep on the street a month+ ago, because I wasn't invited to one of my only childhood friend's wedding. When both of my parents were, and I WAS UPSET. I am an adopted only child with a small family. This meant a lot to me. I never saw who the envelope was addressed to.
For my birthday, my mom offered to go into the bank with me to help the situation (I felt so embarrassed, I didn't want to do it alone and embarrassed that I was falling asleep the whole time too. The lady told a joke and I just collapsed onto the desk haha, cataplexy literally. I usually hide from my family, because I don't want to be bullied.) The kind lady helping me mentioned "joint bank account." It was my birthday, and my mom was there so I was scared of speaking up and ruining any joy that I had. I just realized now, that means that my mom AND DAD have access to all of my finances. I am super private. I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS. PERIOD, POINT MF BLANK jesus.
My bank account is not my own anymore. I am 27 years old. My dad refuses to let me have the rest of my money (college money, which was never used as I got scholarships based on talent... yeah. too bad I'm a human with needs too. There may b tax issues? But it is only a few thousand left, which is still enough to open a bank account on my own so at least I have that independence.)
I am working through my issues, and when I am bleeding out SO MUCH I am getting dizzy, because my dad cornered me (he is 2x my size,) in the kitchen next to a knife block, physically laying hands on me for being upset about a non-invite wedding which is a rational response, I had to physically stab myself IN THE NECK to get him to be shocked and move over enough so that I could move to a safer location where I had a way to escape. Didn't occur to me I could have hurt him instead. Was bleeding for hours and hours, cut deeper than I meant to, but I didn't even want to. It was all I could think of to get him OFF OF ME. Yes I am in therapy. This makes no sense to anyone. But my parents because I am not allowed to have any feelings in their eyes, and they won't want to feel upset if I am upset they go to a wedding of a close (like closer than my cousins,) family friend without me. THEY NEVER EVEN TOLD ME I WASN'T INVITED. I had to joke about it for my mom to get the "oh, we thought you knew." I SAW THE INVITATION. It didn't say the names of who was invited. Why would I think I wasn't?
So it is no mystery why I don't trust these people. I am so exhausted and SLEEPY that I try to limit driving as much as possible. If a sleep attack is coming on, I DON'T PUSH through it. (learned the hard way years ago haha, car accidents are only fun in GTA.) I am in the process of getting more help, but insurance doesn't care if we live or die apparently. Neither does my family it seems.
WHAT DO I DO?! Do I call the bank??? Tell the lady (who is also good friends with my family,) like, hey... uh there was a mistake I don't want a joint bank account. My mom gave my $500 AS A BDAY gift, which was nice. But it was used to reopen what I thought, was my bank account.

Who is Tristan Da Silva?
Tristan Da Silva is a 6'9" tweener forward coming off a standout senior year at Colorado. Known for his versatile offensive skills akin to Kyle Kuzma, Tristan is this year's "Most Likely to Be Jaime Jaquez Jr." winner. He's set to immediately contribute as a valuable role player in the NBA.
Da Silva is intelligent, adaptable, and performs well both on and off the ball. His ability to thrive as a #3 or #4 scoring option—spotting up from three, attacking closeouts, and exploiting mismatches—makes him a potent offensive threat. Yet, questions linger about his transition to the NBA due to his athletic, strength, and length limitations. In college he was a solid defender but due to his physical limitations his defense is a big question mark for me.
NBA Fit:
I'm all in on players who bring versatility and a high basketball IQ to the table. Da Silva fits this mold perfectly as a high-floor, low-ceiling prospect likely to excel as either a starter or a key bench player, depending on the team's needs. Ideally, he should be paired with a strong, versatile forward or a defensive anchor to compensate for his limitations.
Da Silva is on my short list of players I would love for the Raptors to draft at #19. His fit next to Scottie and Co. is arguably the best out of the available prospects when we will be selecting. Furthermore, Da Silva is ready to contribute today and fits the BBQ timeline. If he can become the high end role player that I think he can be he would be a perfect forward to pair with Scottie.
Strengths:

• Versatile offensive player
• Smart player
• Makes good cuts
• Uses his size on mismatches
• Has some 3-level scoring potential with step back middys off the dribble
• Has a little back to the basket game with short hooks when guarded by smaller defenders
• Not afraid to shoot the ball
• Capable of creating his own offense
• He was the guy at Colorado
• Is a smart and willing passer
• Has a nice turnaround jumper
• Shows ability to create offense off of screens
• Good shooter
• Knows how to get open with off ball movement
• Has projectable NBA role as a versatile scoring forward able to play off ball and provide on ball creation in a pinch.
• Can go coast-to-coast off rebounds
• Not afraid to take big shots
• Good hands on defense
• Smart team defender
• Has a high motor on defense. Willing to do the little things.
• Can protect the rim in a pinch as a help defender

Weaknesses:

• Not very athletic
• Not very long
• Will his lack of athleticism limit his ability to create his offense
• Needs to get stronger if he is going to be a PF/SF
• He is the definition of a tweener. He is not athletic enough to be a wing but he is not strong enough and lacks the frame for an NBA power forward
• Will he be able to get all the way to the hole in the NBA?
• Seemed to struggle when guarded by larger defenders where he isn’t able to leverage his size
• Will his defense transfer in the NBA?
• Questions about his lateral quickness when switched onto quick wings and guards
• Questions about his strength when asked to guard true power forwards
• He will most likely never be a good rebounder

Stats and Analytics:
Here are Tristan Da Silva’s senior year stats and advanced stats at Colorado:
Senior Year Stats:

• GP/GS: 34/34
• Minutes: 33.8
• FG%: 49.3
• 3PT%: 39.5 on 4.8 3PA
• FT%: 83.5
• Rebounds: 5.1
• Assists: 2.4
• Steals: 1.1
• Blocks: 0.6
• Points: 16.0

Advanced Stats (Senior Year):

• PER: 19.8
• Offensive BPM: 5.0
• Defensive BPM: 2.1
• Overall BPM: 7.1
• Usage Rate: 22.5%
• True Shooting %: 60.6%
  
• Isolation & Driving: Only 3.6% of possessions in isolation and drove 8.4% of the time, highlighting limited on-ball activity.
  
• Spot-Up Shooting:
  
  • Ranks in the 94th percentile for spot-up scoring with 1.237 points per possession (PPP) this season.
  • 82nd percentile in shooting off the catch with 1.19 PPP.
  • Shot 40.3% from three overall, increasing to 48.1% when unguarded.
• Historical Performance:
  
  • Last season, scored 1.11 PPP in spot-up situations (84th percentile) and 1.21 PPP shooting off the catch (85th percentile).
  • Shot 39.6% from three last season.

NBA Comparison:
Tristan shows elements of both Kyle Kuzma and Jaime Jaquez Jr. in his style of play, offering a promising outlook for his NBA career.
Game Tape:
For a closer look at Da Silva’s playing style and skills, check out his game tape here.
What are your thoughts on Tristan's fit in the NBA? Let's discuss!

Today I got a call from my agency that my contract was going to be cut short due to a few complaints. I need other nurses’ opinion on this please.
Context: I’m contracted at a rural multi purpose hospital, combined emergency, acute medical and residential care. It’s purely nurse-led with medical officers on call who can get on the telehealth/screen in ED if needed. Plus a doctor who physically visits approx 3x a week in AM shifts.
There’s a senior RN who works casual shifts. We never really got along, although we’ve never had any direct conflict or arguments. She just makes a lot of comments about travel nurses, questioning our ED skills, how we made the nurses accomodation a “pig sty” (even though it’s spotless, no dishes on the sink, always dried and put away on the spot etc). Anyway she complained to the management that I don’t do complete handovers- for example I didn’t hand over to their shift that I gave a slow IV push of digoxin to an ED patient. Another nurse who was in the handover room 100% remembers that I did in fact hand it over including the period of time I took to push the drug in and what time. On top of that, all the drugs given were charted and co signed by us, all available for her to read. But she says I never handed it over.
Number two, there’s a complaint that I argued with the doctor and have “abrupt attitude.” I have never ever argued with anybody there- not the admin, nit the cleaners, not the medical team etc. I have opinions about the people but I always keep it to myself to avoid the work politics. The closest thing I can think of is the doctor DECLINED to see a head injury patient I handed over, because she would rather suture a non urgent wound on the limb in another room. Without asking who, what, how, when, she just replied “I don’t want to see him” with a smile on her face. I said “They’re actually in that other room right now and have timed their arrival to see you.” And she went “Well I’ll be too busy suturing in there.” And that was end. She refused to see him 100%. Fortunately, the same coworker who is vouching I handed over the digoxin also witnessed this interaction. The patient was clinically well and neuro obs okay so he was discharged with a minor traumatic brain injury fact sheet. I explained all the warning signs and to come back if so. He returned the next day unwell and I texted her again to come SEE him, that’s when she finally saw him. And the kid ended up getting a CT scan in a bigger hospital. Luckily, there was no brain bleed. This was an INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS situation and I have so many regrets because I didn’t advocate for that patient enough. Luckily he was okay and he went home. I also had another chest pain patient who presented twice on the same day- I followed protocol, did the ECG and bloods. The dr was giving me attitude that it was clearly non-cardiac and non-urgent, rather mental health related. Regardless, I did my job and followed protocols for chest pain. Then the pharmacy called me asking about a loratadine script not matching the online med chart, and wanted to clarify which drug the doctor wanted. Obviously I was not going to tell her which drug to dispense (as I’m not a doctor) so I passed it on to the doctor. Her response was “This question is so petty. I don’t really care.” As you can see, despite this doctor’s attitude, I’ve been very patient and kept things to myself to remain professionalism. These are the closest interactions I can think of to an “argument.” The only person other than my witness who knew about this interaction was the same RN above who complained about the digoxin
Fourth, we do our own blood pathologies onsite due to being rural. So when I had a chest pain, I placed a 24 gauge IV cannula on a 71 year olds r) forearm SOLELY for the collection of bloods. My thinking was rather than poking her 3x for repeat bloods I would cannulate her to collect from the same cannula (you only need 1 mL or less each time). I already told this to the LPN/LVN who questioned the size of the cannula. I assured her at the event we had to administer IV drugs, it would be given in a bigger cannula on the L) forearm (as I avoid collecting blood from the same IV where drugs and fluids are being pushed into). This is also documented in her acute folder, cannulation form (under reason for cannulation is BLOODS). Anyway this LPN complained that I’m using the wrong IV size. Iwant to clarify NO IV DRUGS were given. Only ORAL. That IV was purely for bloods. But you know what, thinking about it, even if I were to push fluids through there, it wouldn’t be wrong. 24 gauge is used on paediatrics AND elderly AND adults with miniature sensitive veins.
But despite all of this, my contract has been cut shorter by weeks and the agency has asked me not to approach the management. And to finish my contract quietly and in peace. They won’t pass my feedback on out of fear it will cause conflict in their relationship with the client. Additionally, moving forward, they cannot place me in ED contracts anymore until I’ve completed a medical/acute contract and gotten good feedback.
To me this absolute bullshit so I told them this will be the last contract with them (I have other agencies). Did I do the right thing? Was I wrong in any of these scenarios? Please give feedback as I want to improve myself as a nurse…

It was said. There is no going back now. The damage was done. All the promises made. The time spent in each others arms. The late night movies, the good morning calls. All of it. Gone. The words can’t be unsaid. The hurt can’t be unfelt. The wound can’t be sewn. You were my everything. I would have gone through so much hurt to shield you from the pain that was right in front of you. I did. But the words are out now. I tried so hard for so long to pretend it didn’t hurt. I tried to pretend like it wasn’t eating away at me inside. I wanted you but there was no you without her. The life I was waiting for was nothing but a fairy tale, told to a child who didn’t understand how she could love someone so intensely and it still not be enough. Kids grow up on Disney movies. That’s the first view into “true love” they have. There are hard times but in the end everything works out for love. For true love. Disney fucking lied. And this is no fairy tale. Reality isn’t so pretty and it isn’t wrapped up in a nice little bow. He was Prince Charming. He was intelligent, gorgeous, and the perfect gentleman. He cared about you, was there for you, loved you. He was everything you had ever hoped for. He was perfect. But here’s the part Disney doesn’t show you. He got comfortable. He stopped trying as hard. As time went on and things became tougher, he wasn’t your Prince Charming anymore. He doesn’t show you the same care. The same interest. The same intensity of love and longing and passion. The late night movies stop. The good morning calls stop. The fire he once had in his eyes for you stop. Life has beaten him down and down and down until he had no fight left to give. A piece of him died. And it took the best piece of you with it. Broken, depressed, scared, sad, confused, on how something so beautiful could cut so god damn deep. But he’s not all gone. That love remains. The embers are still there. A glimpse of who he was, who you were, who they were. Just enough to hold on. Hold on and pray that those days would come back. That one day you would open your eyes and he was there. Just as loving. Just as caring. Just as perfect as he once was. Your Prince Charming had come home. But this isn’t a fairy tale. Those pieces are gone and that little girl is devastated. Crying on the floor left wondering why, WHY? Why? But there’s no going back now. The damage is done. The fighting has stopped. It’s over. It’s really over. He’s gone.

Who is Tristan Da Silva?
Tristan Da Silva is a 6'9" tweener forward coming off a standout senior year at Colorado. Known for his versatile offensive skills akin to Kyle Kuzma, Tristan is this year's "Most Likely to Be Jaime Jaquez Jr." winner. He's set to immediately contribute as a valuable role player in the NBA.
Da Silva is intelligent, adaptable, and performs well both on and off the ball. His ability to thrive as a #3 or #4 scoring option—spotting up from three, attacking closeouts, and exploiting mismatches—makes him a potent offensive threat. Yet, questions linger about his transition to the NBA due to his athletic, strength, and length limitations. In college he was a solid defender but due to his physical limitations his defense is a big question mark for me.
NBA Fit:
I'm all in on players who bring versatility and a high basketball IQ to the table. Da Silva fits this mold perfectly as a high-floor, low-ceiling prospect likely to excel as either a starter or a key bench player, depending on the team's needs. Ideally, he should be paired with a strong, versatile forward or a defensive anchor to compensate for his limitations.
Strengths:

• Versatile offensive player
• Smart player
• Makes good cuts
• Uses his size on mismatches
• Has some 3-level scoring potential with step back middys off the dribble
• Has a little back to the basket game with short hooks when guarded by smaller defenders
• Not afraid to shoot the ball
• Capable of creating his own offense
• He was the guy at Colorado
• Is a smart and willing passer
• Has a nice turnaround jumper
• Shows ability to create offense off of screens
• Good shooter
• Knows how to get open with off ball movement
• Has projectable NBA role as a versatile scoring forward able to play off ball and provide on ball creation in a pinch.
• Can go coast-to-coast off rebounds
• Not afraid to take big shots
• Good hands on defense
• Smart team defender
• Has a high motor on defense. Willing to do the little things.
• Can protect the rim in a pinch as a help defender

Weaknesses:

• Not very athletic
• Not very long
• Will his lack of athleticism limit his ability to create his offense
• Needs to get stronger if he is going to be a PF/SF
• He is the definition of a tweener. He is not athletic enough to be a wing but he is not strong enough and lacks the frame for an NBA power forward
• Will he be able to get all the way to the hole in the NBA?
• Seemed to struggle when guarded by larger defenders where he isn’t able to leverage his size
• Will his defense transfer in the NBA?
• Questions about his lateral quickness when switched onto quick wings and guards
• Questions about his strength when asked to guard true power forwards
• He will most likely never be a good rebounder

Stats and Analytics:
Here are Tristan Da Silva’s senior year stats and advanced stats at Colorado:
Senior Year Stats:

• GP/GS: 34/34
• Minutes: 33.8
• FG%: 49.3
• 3PT%: 39.5 on 4.8 3PA
• FT%: 83.5
• Rebounds: 5.1
• Assists: 2.4
• Steals: 1.1
• Blocks: 0.6
• Points: 16.0

Advanced Stats (Senior Year):

• PER: 19.8
• Offensive BPM: 5.0
• Defensive BPM: 2.1
• Overall BPM: 7.1
• Usage Rate: 22.5%
• True Shooting %: 60.6%
  
• Isolation & Driving: Only 3.6% of possessions in isolation and drove 8.4% of the time, highlighting limited on-ball activity.
  
• Spot-Up Shooting:
  
  • Ranks in the 94th percentile for spot-up scoring with 1.237 points per possession (PPP) this season.
  • 82nd percentile in shooting off the catch with 1.19 PPP.
  • Shot 40.3% from three overall, increasing to 48.1% when unguarded.
• Historical Performance:
  
  • Last season, scored 1.11 PPP in spot-up situations (84th percentile) and 1.21 PPP shooting off the catch (85th percentile).
  • Shot 39.6% from three last season.

NBA Comparison:
Tristan shows elements of both Kyle Kuzma and Jaime Jaquez Jr. in his style of play, offering a promising outlook for his NBA career.
Game Tape:
For a closer look at Da Silva’s playing style and skills, check out his game tape here.
What are your thoughts on Tristan's fit in the NBA? Let's discuss!

My ex gf (32F) and I (35M) broke up after 9 total years. Have I just made a huge mistake?
My ex gf (32F) and I (35M) broke up after 9 years. Have I made a giant mistake as result of my circumstances?
We were together 6 years. First year or two was all gravy. Then we started having fights and it got so bad at year 6 we split up. A year later we started hanging out lightly again and fell back in love. She moved back in. Things went well again for a while. 6 months ago or so things started to get bad again. We agreed to pursue couples counseling. This wasn’t very effective unfortunately, which has added to the hurt if that makes sense.
When we fight (or fought), and I’m sort of ashamed to admit this, it bleeds into other areas of my life. Jobs were impacted. I felt like I didn’t have the energy to give due to the stress from constant arguing and intense arguing. My family relationships were sort of impacted because of the stress and constantly trying to seek out advice. Same with some friendships. I’ve had certain friends and folks that have wanted us to see it end for years. “But hey what do they know? We know the situation best.”
The truth is this person IS one of the few people on this planet that I feel genuinely cared about me aside from family, and the ONLY girl I’ve ever met who showed the kind of care and interest in me as she did. But we always seemed to be struggling to meet each other’s needs. For years there was a theme of her feeling unappreciated and unloved. For me, we didn’t go out and enjoy life enough. We rarely or very infrequently interacted with each other’s families. This frustrated me moreso vs her. Lots of my family is very local to me.
Look, I am not perfect and I am far from it. I’ve been unemployed for a year. But I did use my CC and my retirement funds to pay my way. I never borrowed money and she was very supportive and “cool” with my not working while I contemplated the next career step. I had a bad ending with my last company where I had lost both my grandfathers very close to each other, one of them to a self inflicted gunshot wound. It def effected me.
Anyways, two months ago I started putting two honest feet forward. I started applying to jobs. I’ve been exercising and have lost 10lbs in the last month alone, and down from 253 to 235 this year. I took on individual therapy a month ago even though I cannot afford it. Mostly to help get past prior work frustrations.
And then one day two weeks ago shit hit the fan with our relationship. Her feeling unappreciated and unloved for years and years culminated. She said she was done with couples counseling and I needed to fully focus on individual. This upset me. Things escalated, and we broke up.
I feel quit on. And betrayed. But I also feel past mistakes with work etc snowballed and she grew tired of insecurities I was expressing and complaining about regarding comparing to my working successful peers. In her words, she no longer knew how to offer support and felt unappreciated and unloved.
One thing that bugged me is we agreed to pursue individual therapy together at the recommendation of our couples counselor. She never got around to it. She blamed “delays in the Kaiser network.”
I feel I have pushed away and cut out someone special in my life. I am sad/numb. I fear this is just culmination of my mistakes and she grew tired of a “loser.”
What happened? Did I simply mess up?
TLDR: 9 year relationship ended. We tried counseling. We both felt our needs werent met constantly to where counseling wasnt effective. She has a good heart. Feel like she genuinely cared about me but it seemed hard so often to go out casually or spend time with each other’s families. She felt unappreciated and unloved, I felt betrayed when after acknowledging I needed to move forward in my life with career and fixing our relationship and putting two honest feet forward for the last 2 months and she quit when things escalated one day and we both felt wronged. Hard letting go. Feeling like I screwed up and this is all my fault and I just kind of suck at life?

Name: Luke Stratos
Age: 16
Appearance: Tall, broad shoulders, dark brown skin, black hair in a crew cut wave, hazel brown eyes, lean, muscular build, celtic shield knot on his right bicep, a wolf head tattoo on his left forearm, and the Japanese Kanji for wind on his right bicel. Small, faded scars litter most of his body.
Personality: Kind, friendly, helpful, stubborn at times, hardworking, loves his family dearly, dedicated to helping others, can get nervous around girls, tends to be charming without noticing it, gentlemanly, and is a fighter to the very end.
Likes: Martal arts, his mother, his sisters, cooking, heroes, R&B music, country music, singing, desserts, figuring out what he can create with his Quirk, his classmates (sans Bakugo at times), storms, windy days, mythology.
Dislikes: Bullies, his father, villains, anyone who mistreats women, people who fight for no reason, heroes who only care about fame, cameras, extremely cheesy foods, snakes, and waking up super early.
Quirk: Gale Forge- Luke's Quirk allows him to generate, manipulate, and intensify wind currents. This gives Luke the ability to not only manipulate the wind and air around him for simple purposes such as movements and basic attacks but also solidify the air into various constructs, essentially forging objects out of wind. These constructs can range from simple shields and battering rams to more complex shapes like blades, grappling hooks, and even animals. The constructs Luke creates take on a dark, midnight blue shade.
Quirk Drawbacks: Luke's Quirk relies heavily on the air quality around him. If the air is too humid or too wet than his constructs will become virtually unusable. And if Luke's airway or supply becomes shortened or cut off in any way then he won't be able to create anything at all. Overuse of his Quirk can also lead to intense asthma attacks or ruptured blood vessels.
Quirk Supermoves:
Cyclone Lancer: Luke summons numerous, dark blue spears around him that he uses to launch from a distance.
Sky Shot: Luke creates a blue wind bow and fires an arrow at his target. As long as he has eyes on his target, the arrow will follow.
Gale Step: Luke summons concentrated bursts of air from beneath his feet, increasing his speed and mobility.
Vortex Wrath: Luke creates a spinning funnel of wind around his arm and shapes it into a drill.
Breeze Blade: Luke summons a triangular-bladed broadsword that he uses at close range.
Falcon Tempest: Luke summons a cast of wind falcons he uses as either a means of attack or a way to temporarily blind an opponent.
Lupus Storm: Luke summons a pack of wolves that he can use to carry injured people away from the battlefield or attack numerous opponents.
Ryuusepuu (Dragon Whirlwind): Luke creates a swirling, Asian lung Dragon that circles around him before he sends it at his opponent. The Dragon traps the opponent in a massive vortex before biting down on them with full force.
Fujin-ken (Wind God Fist): Luke gathers spinning wind around his right fist that he sends out in a massive burst of wind that sometimes takes the form of an angry Oni head.
Howling Hurricane: Currently Luke's strongest move. He summons a massive amount of wind around him before launching himself into the air. Luke shifts into a flying kick position and condenses the wind around his outstretched leg. The wind transforms themselves into a wolf head which bites down on his target with the full force of hurricane force winds.
Hero Name: Zephyros, The Wind Knight
Hero Costume: Dark blue cargo pants with black tribal markings swirling around the outer edges of it. The pants are tucked into a set of black boots with silver armor protecting his knees and shins. A black and silver belt is around his waist full of different medical supplies, smoke bombs, flashbangs, and other small weapons that Luke uses in the field. He wears a long-sleeved black and blue shirt made of a special material that is bulletproof, tearproof, and fireproof along with protective armor on his forearms and shoulders. His torso is covered by a chest guard with the image of a knight's helm surrounded by streaks of wind on the front area. His chest guard also acts a wind breaker with lighter, cloth material hanging down past his hips along with a hood on the back of his neck. His look is finished off with a mask covering the lower half of his face and a simple mask over his eyes that enhaces his vision through numerous types of filters.
Background: Luke is the only male child of now divorced parents. His father, a real estate tycoon was so focus on his work that he neglected his wife which also led to his infidelity. Luke in turn has four older sisters with two of them being the daughters of women other than his mother. Luke's father was hardly in his life, only seeing the young man a few times a year, leaving him to be raised by his mother and older sisters.
Luke grew up seeing just how hard his family members worked to be able to provide for him and each other. Luke's mother gave him as much love as she could as well as showing him different skills that would help him in the future. As he grew, his sisters succeeded in their careers and became the top of their fields; a respected surgeon, a lawyer, a tech entrepreneur, and even a pop icon. While sometimes being placed in the shadows of his successful siblings, he never felt like he was inferior to them. They all loved him and he loved them, idolizing how much hard work they put in to making their dreams come true.
Luke first became interested in the hero world when he saw a local hero not only save a small time grocery store from getting robbed but also assisting him in getting his business back in working order. Luke realized that being a hero wasn't just about dealing with villains or flashy rescues but also giving the people hope when they felt like they didn't have any. Just like how his family members made him feel when he was at his lowest points.
Luke made it his goal to become a hero, to do some good for the people in this world that felt like nothing good ever happened to them.

It was said. There is no going back now. The damage was done. All the promises made. The time spent in each others arms. The late night movies, the good morning calls. All of it. Gone. The words can’t be unsaid. The hurt can’t be unfelt. The wound can’t be sewn. You were my everything. I would have gone through so much hurt to shield you from the pain that was right in front of you. I did. But the words are out now. I tried so hard for so long to pretend it didn’t hurt. I tried to pretend like it wasn’t eating away at me inside. I wanted you but there was no you without her. The life I was waiting for was nothing but a fairy tale, told to a child who didn’t understand how she could love someone so intensely and it still not be enough. Kids grow up on Disney movies. That’s the first view into “true love” they have. There are hard times but in the end everything works out for love. For true love. Disney fucking lied. And this is no fairy tale. Reality isn’t so pretty and it isn’t wrapped up in a nice little bow. He was Prince Charming. He was intelligent, gorgeous, and the perfect gentleman. He cared about you, was there for you, loved you. He was everything you had ever hoped for. He was perfect. But here’s the part Disney doesn’t show you. He got comfortable. He stopped trying as hard. As time went on and things became tougher, he wasn’t your Prince Charming anymore. He doesn’t show you the same care. The same interest. The same intensity of love and longing and passion. The late night movies stop. The good morning calls stop. The fire he once had in his eyes for you stop. Life has beaten him down and down and down until he had no fight left to give. A piece of him died. And it took the best piece of you with it. Broken, depressed, scared, sad, confused, on how something so beautiful could cut so god damn deep. But he’s not all gone. That love remains. The embers are still there. A glimpse of who he was, who you were, who they were. Just enough to hold on. Hold on and pray that those days would come back. That one day you would open your eyes and he was there. Just as loving. Just as caring. Just as perfect as he once was. Your Prince Charming had come home. But this isn’t a fairy tale. Those pieces are gone and that little girl is devastated. Crying on the floor left wondering why, WHY? Why? But there’s no going back now. The damage is done. The fighting has stopped. It’s over. It’s really over. He’s gone.

It was said. There is no going back now. The damage was done. All the promises made. The time spent in each others arms. The late night movies, the good morning calls. All of it. Gone. The words can’t be unsaid. The hurt can’t be unfelt. The wound can’t be sewn. You were my everything. I would have gone through so much hurt to shield you from the pain that was right in front of you. I did. But the words are out now. I tried so hard for so long to pretend it didn’t hurt. I tried to pretend like it wasn’t eating away at me inside. I wanted you but there was no you without her. The life I was waiting for was nothing but a fairy tale, told to a child who didn’t understand how she could love someone so intensely and it still not be enough. Kids grow up on Disney movies. That’s the first view into “true love” they have. There are hard times but in the end everything works out for love. For true love. Disney fucking lied. And this is no fairy tale. Reality isn’t so pretty and it isn’t wrapped up in a nice little bow. He was Prince Charming. He was intelligent, gorgeous, and the perfect gentleman. He cared about you, was there for you, loved you. He was everything you had ever hoped for. He was perfect. But here’s the part Disney doesn’t show you. He got comfortable. He stopped trying as hard. As time went on and things became tougher, he wasn’t your Prince Charming anymore. He doesn’t show you the same care. The same interest. The same intensity of love and longing and passion. The late night movies stop. The good morning calls stop. The fire he once had in his eyes for you stop. Life has beaten him down and down and down until he had no fight left to give. A piece of him died. And it took the best piece of you with it. Broken, depressed, scared, sad, confused, on how something so beautiful could cut so god damn deep. But he’s not all gone. That love remains. The embers are still there. A glimpse of who he was, who you were, who they were. Just enough to hold on. Hold on and pray that those days would come back. That one day you would open your eyes and he was there. Just as loving. Just as caring. Just as perfect as he once was. Your Prince Charming had come home. But this isn’t a fairy tale. Those pieces are gone and that little girl is devastated. Crying on the floor left wondering why, WHY? Why? But there’s no going back now. The damage is done. The fighting has stopped. It’s over. It’s really over. He’s gone.

Reddit Account: u/Thenn_Applicant
Discord Tag: Garin
Name and House: Dorian Merryweather
Age: 49
Cultural Group: Reachman
Appearance: [Dorian's chestnut brown hair has been greying for quite a while, however is short beard retains more color, including a few stray red hairs peppered throughout it. While his features have softened and gained some pudge as he aged past his prime, he remains in overall good shape. This is partly due to his great love of gardening and crop cultivation, which have left his hands and nails rather rough.](Dodin-Bouffant-The-Taste-of-Things-Vest.webp (500×650) (williamjacket.com))
Trait: Numerate
Skills: Avaricious (e), Architect, Administrator, Investor
Talents: Language (High Valyrian) Cooking, Gardening
Negative Trait: N/A
Starting Title: Lord of Longtable
Starting Location: Opening Event
Biography:
It has been said; men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing, sooner than war. As such, it begs the question, what does a man have left when he finally tires of war? In pursuit of an answer, of any answer, one half of Dorian Merryweather’s life was spent. He was the second son of Lord Arthor Merryweather of Longtable. Like many others born in a place of natural abundance, he longed for more, for something greater than a mere provincial estate. The tourneys of Highgarden, the hunts of Horn Hill and the books of Oldtown all called to him, and so he could never ride past his father’s mild and verdant fields fast enough. Dorian counted himself lucky not to be the heir, for that meant he could pick where his future lay, unchained from the uninspiring home of his childhood. Instead it was his older brother, Bennard, who envied his free-flying lifestyle, contriving any excuse to join him on his escapades and agurk lessons and ceremonies he ought to have attended.
Lord Arthor was fairly permissive of this deriliction of duties, as the friendships forced on such journeys were worth more than lessons that could be repeated later, or tasks that could be handed off to lowborn stewards. The boys attended tourneys, balls, hunts and feasts, living the life the bards extolled as the height of reachman’s chivalry. The one time they did not shirk their duties was when their father had the honor of hosting King Mern and his court for a tourney on the Warrior’s day. The Merryweather sons would present the king and his family with silver bowls of dilligrout, a most exquisite stew of capons, white wine and almond milk. They had the joy of tasting it once the Gardeners had their fill, a taste they would never forget. On the tournament field three days later, Mern knighted them both, though Dorian was only sixteen at the time, green as a knight could ever be.
Five years later, as news of Aegon Targaryen and his early conquests spread, the lords of the Reach were summoned to Goldengrove, where they found a veritable forest of Westermen’s banners being planted beside their own. The fall of the Storm Kings had led to a whirlwind of diplomacy between the houses of Gardener and Lannister. The plan was presented to the lords with the two kings sitting beside one another on the dais as though they were brothers. They held up Aegon’s letter of demands, scornfully reading it aloud and then proceeded to tear it up to a roaring acclamation from the hall. Standing there before the hall, Mern could hardly be called the Warrior incarnate. There stood a man well past his prime, old enough to be a grandfather and with no great victories to his name, in battle or on the tourney field. All the same, this man, whom they called their king, always seemed to know exactly what to say to win someone over. If he’d declared war on hell itself that evening, the Merryweather brothers would probably still have marched off with him when the next morning dawned. Bennard and Dorian shouted as loud as anyone, death to the foreign upstart. That evening were betrothed to westerwomen they’d never met before, made plans for a real battle, which they had never fought in before, and drank, ate and sang as though the night would last forever. House Merryweather was not able to secure a command, yet King Mern remembered his stay at Longtable fondly. He gave Bennard and Dorian a place in the vanguard, and even adorned Bennard with a brooch of the order of the green hand the morning before the army Goldengrove, a momentous honor which Bennard would cherish for the remainder of his days. He did not have many left, as it turned out. The Field of Fire began like a dream, as the two brothers rode off at the break of dawn, two out of five thousand sets of gleaming armor atop proud warhorses. By the end of the day it had become a nightmare. Caught up in the maelstrom of battle, Dorian did not see the moment when their loss was assured, but the Gods know he could hear it, the creeping, hungry flames that descended on the reachmen like an army of its own. As hundreds were broiled inside their steel plate and thousands more choked on the inferno’s horrible vanguard of black smoke, Bennard and Dorian broke and fled. They were not far behind the retreating Loren Lannister in their escape, but half a minute made all the difference. The lines of fire fanned out, hunting more living things to devour, and engulfed the two brothers. Dorian could feel how the flames spread from his surcoat to his undershirt, all the way down to the hairs on his chest, beginning to sear his skin. In a desperate act he threw himself in the Blackwater, and would have perished if not for the shoddy work of his squire that morning, which left him able to tear off his plate before he could sink. With bloodied, burn-marked fingers, he clung to the roots of a tree by the riverside, water up to his chest. He was retrieved after some time, how long he could not say. For the next two moons his mind was adrift, distracted from his pains by milk of the poppy. The next two were far worse, as he grew more lucid and realized the extent of the damage. A burn-mark stretched from his right thigh, all the way up his chest and left bicep to the apple of his neck. Many times over, flakes of dead or dying skin had to be peeled off by the maester as the scabs kept bursting with blood and clear liquid. By the end of that year he was able to walk again, though the burn mark would leave a feverish red mark across the front of his body, his new skin settling into twisted lines.
Bennard was far worse for wear, alive yet burned all the way to his face and crippled from a fall off his horse. His nose and ear-lobes had to be cut off, too burned to save, and even his eyelids were permanently scarred, unable to sprout new lashes. The more lucid Bennard became, the deeper his sorrow. Eventually he began refusing food. The new lord of Longtable would not eat anything his cooks set in front of him. In spite of his ever present pains, Dorian began going to the kitchens, reprimanding the cooks for their failings. He knew his brother well and knew his palette, and began ordering them to make his brother’s favorites. When he felt they were making mistakes, he interrupted their work himself. He was a stranger to the kitchen, yet would criticize how things were cut too roughly, spiced too little or too much. He was a terror to the cooks, yet they could not refuse him.
His attempts to intervene were however hampered by a newfound aversion to heat. The sound of the hearth, of boiling and searing, the general sense of warmth around him made him nauseous and caused his movements to seize up. Still, he went to his brother’s bedside every day, and afterwards he forced himself back to the kitchens. His sister, Lydia, tried to stop him at first, but soon found her protes fell on deaf ears, and so joined him, if only to leash him in when he went too far. Finally, there was only one dish they hadn’t tried; the dilligrout they’d once served to the late King Mern. Every time it was made, it came out wrong. It soon turned out the cook who had served them that evening six years ago had since retired, and his exact method had never been recorded or taught to anyone else. Dorian would first invite the man to Longtable, then summon him with armed knights when invitations were refused.
Theomar, the man who appeared before him, was a sorry sight, looking frightened and confused as he was taken to his old workplace. It was explained by his sons that he’d been growing senile even six years ago, often snapping at the kitchen maids under him when his memory failed him. Since then he’d gotten worse, seldom eating, let alone cooking. Something in the old man’s eyes did seem to brighten for a moment when the sounds and smells of his old kitchen surrounded him, and Dorian ordered him to make dilligrout. Before long that faint spark had been drowned out by tears. He would start boiling capon or crushing almonds, only to leave the job half-done whenever he had to fetch something new. Serving maids were put at his disposal to bring him ingredients, yet an ingredient ordered would be met with a reprimand as he seemed to forget which dish he was making every few minutes. Finally Dorian snapped at the man, grabbing him by his collar and shouting accusations of treason against House Merryweather. By the time Lydia could restrain him and try to apologize, the man was a wreck on the floor. After watching it for a while, waiting for the man to get up and continue his work, even Dorian was overcome by pity and shame for what he’d done. The old cook was praying to the gods, begging forgiveness for his failings. Dorian began to realize he’d broken a great man down and would himself beg forgiveness. He offered the man his old cook’s quarters back for the rest of his life, and promised his sons that his maester would tend to the man in his old age, that he would be fed from Longtable’s stores.
At this point, he resolved to make the dilligrout himself. Through it all, Bennard was barely clinging to life, or rather being tethered to it by the will of others. He could only be fed when drugged down by the milk of the poppy, and the more often it was used, the less effective it became. Every day Dorian braved the kitchens, yet he could not recreate the flavor of that wonderful night. It was by the grace of the gods, perhaps with Theomar as their vessel, that Dorian would even come close. The old man could no longer cook, but over time he began to wander into the kitchens and sit down on a chair. At first Dorian thought the man only sought the warmth of the hearth for his weary bones, yet he discovered it to be more than that. Theomar’s eyes were like clouded glass, yet they brightened every now and then, hearing almonds being ground, smelling capons searing in fat, as though it was stirring the kitchenmaster of yore back to life. Eventually Dorian began to walk up to the old cook with his ingredients, bidding him to smell or taste small portions. Sometimes he got simple instructions out of it, ‘too coarse’, ‘too sour’, ‘underdone’. Som times a mere nod or frown was all Theomar managed. Over the course of a couple of days, Dorian put together one final attempt to get the dish made rightWhen he arrived in Bennard’s chamber, he was met with a look which brought forth discomfort that no flame could produce in Dorian. Plainly, raspingly, his brother asked him why he wouldn’t let him die. It was easy, Bennard reasoned. All Dorian needed to do was wait and become lord. The words almost made Dorian throw the dilligrout on the floor. Almost. He placed two bowls on Bennard’s table, the dilligrout and one brimming with milk of the poppy. Dorian told his brother to make his choice. If he sought death, Dorian would let him, but he would not hear that it was an easy thing, watching his brother die. That evening, the milk of the poppy was carried away by the maester, the empty bowl of stew taken to be washed in the kitchens. From then on, Bennard ate what his brother brought him without complaint. He lasted just into the new year, dying on its tenth day. In the predawn gloom of the twelfth, Theomar died in his sleep
Dorian took up his lordly task joylessly. His old wanderlust returned, spurred by the horrible memories that now stained Longtable and the reach itself in his mind. The final straw came when their new Tyrell overlords, insisted on him marrying a lady from a dornish house. His previous betrothal had fallen through, as the parents of his western bride had not wished to draw the ire of the Targaryens by maintaining an old alliance meant to oppose them. Instead of obliging, he boarded a ship from Oldtown going east. It stopped only briefly in Planky Town before going to Tyrosh. Noting him to be a nobleman, a few of the city’s wealthy men would host him for a while, though they quickly lost interest when his lack of knowledge of trade became apparent. After that, he spent time in the markets and squares where the common people lived. His old curiosity was piqued, and he decided to embark on a quest of learning, fashioning himself another Lomas Longstrider. He moved on to Myr, and the experience was much the same in broad strokes, a few rich men showed interest and quickly lost it. As he’d visited the dye markets he went to see the city’s famous artisans at work. One thing was notably different, he met a Tyroshi woman with green-dyed hair, going by the name Maryah. She was a trader, and the two had taken the same ship to Myr. She had been to Myr before and showed him many of its secrets. They spent an entire day in one of the vast delicacy markets so she could show him the many tastes of the city. Having no plans in advance, he asked where she was headed next.
Without a second thought he would join her on a journey to Lys. He soon understood it to be a test. It was not long before she teased him, speculating he’d only joined her for a chance to see the famous pleasure houses. Evening after evening they stayed in the city and Maryah would tease and test him over the matter. Finally he told her he’d renounce his betrothal for her, that there was no one else in his eye. She laughed, replying he would not have to. The next morning, Dorian awoke to find that she was already up, the green washed from her black curls. Maryah had in fact been Joanna Dayne, his dornish bride to be, having traveled the same route as him ever since his ship stopped at Planky Town to refill its food and water. She was already quite familiar with the three closest free cities, having served as a dornish envoy on behalf of its spice traders. As they planned their return to Westeros, Joanna asked him what else in the world he wanted to see. Within a few moons of being wed, they left Westeros, not to return for three years.The journey was what his mind needed, away from the Reach, its knights and tapestries, hunts and tourneys. Ultimately, the lords and knights of his homeland, for all their songs and poetry, lived every day in preparation for war, frivolous though the preparations were. Joanna showed him a different world, the remnants of Old Valyria. War was to be sure inescapable. Wherever they went, there were soldiers, tapestries, contests of arms, and yet the cities housed something else as well, a boundless potential for creation, commerce and growth.
Thanks to Joanna Dayne’s knowledge their stays became far better planned, and they could enjoy the hospitality of wealthy locals far longer. She knew how to talk about the spice trade and similar matters, and Dorian began to pick up on it. On their second stay in Myr, he procured a great deal of fine parchment and began taking notes, everything from negotiation tactics and the prices of cloves or red peppers to court customs, as well as more eclectic pieces of knowledge, details of running an eastern estate, descriptions of technological marvels he had never seen in Westeros, and ingredients in the local food. By the time they neared Qarth he had quite the list of recipes, among other things. There he was even able to learn a few all the way from Yi Ti, as some local cooks catered to merchants from the Golden Empire. On their journey home they’d end up taking the opportunity to see the newly made port of King’s Landing. By that time, a third member had joined their journey, their infant daughter Florys. Having left Longtable in the care of his sister and steward for three years, Dorian finally accepted the responsibility of running his ancestral home.
Longtable was considered to rule over some of the best lands in the Reach, ideally situated along the river with abundant soil which could provide two grain harvests in a year. Having seen the estates which supplied the great cities of the east, Dorian was all too aware of its comparative shortcomings. He found that the abundance of the land had a counterproductive effect, breeding complacency and carelessness. From his grandiose tour of the east, he went on a painstaking tour of his own lands, trying to get an overview of everything he ruled over. He paid the citadel a fee to send him half a dozen maesters in training for a season. These young men, literate and numerate, would serve his own maester in conducting a survey of the land, giving Dorian account of all resources at his disposal as lord. The results were quite varied.
Some peasants were found to have remarkable agricultural insights which they had no way of writing down, entirely reliant on passing the knowledge to their children. Knowing the risks of such a method of transferring knowledge, Dorian ordered such insights recorded. In other places there were farmers and communities who were unwittingly exhausting their soil. Instances of lack of fallow land, excessive grazing by cows and lack of crop rotation were also made note of, followed by edicts against such heedless practices. Septons, sheriffs and tax collectors were given written copies and were obliged to read them to the peasantry wherever it was deemed necessary. It also became part of the obligations of farmers to plant a set amount of clover in their fields and pastures, a practice some had taken up on their own but which had already become a standardized law among the estates belonging to Myr and Volantis. Irrigation was expanded and land inheritance was reformed to prevent the splitting of fields past a certain threshold.
Lord Dorian was not always successful. Some eastern ideas had been useful innovations which improved conditions across the board. In time he learned that the peculiarities of the westerosi system were sometimes necessary for the sake of stability, not merely the misshapen fruits of ignorance. His attempt to enclose part of the common lands proved abortive, as it nearly caused a peasant rebellion. A procession of aggrieved smallfolk headed for Longtable had to be dispersed by knights, armed with wooden clubs to prevent needless bloodshed.Two men were hanged and five sent to the wall, but the reform was thereafter abandoned, leading the populace to calm down. Dorian was not much of a military leader and had not wielded weapons since the Field of Fire. He became aware of his need to bolster his forces, a notion reinforced by the establishment of the Black Roses not long after his return, and again with the Kingswood Catastrophe
In the meantime, he and Joanna raised a family together. Three more daughters would be born healthy, with a couple of miscarriages and a stillbirth in between, also a daughter. Their travels did not entirely come to an end. In 13 AC they would tour the northern free cities of Norvos, Qohor, Pentos, Braavos and Lorath, which they had missed on their original journey. The lion’s share of 17 AC was spent on a journey to the Summer Islands. At other times they would make shorter journeys around the Seven Kingdoms, where they felt more secure in bringing their older children along. Whether it was visiting Joanna’s family in Dorne, tourneys and feasts in the Reach and West or even one trip to see the wall, a nameday wish by Florys, they were often on the move. Like most of their peers, they frequented Oldtown and Highgarden
The growing rift between the two queens and their children was a situation Dorian would watch with dread in his heart, remembering keenly how a generation of young men had been brought to the field of fire. To his mind, the Targaryen rule ought not go to waste. Like Valyria of old, it had begun with fire and blood, yet similarly peace and prosperity had followed in its wake. If only the dragons could stand united, perhaps another long peace like the one the Freehold once enjoyed could again be established. If not, another century of blood was upon them. Under Dorian, Longtable became a place where he sought to bring together people from across the kingdoms and forge unity over the dinner table, an attitude which somewhat vexed and confounded his more militaristic daughter and heiress, Lady Florys. Even amid her questioning of the viability of his peaceful ways when surrounded by those who would make war, a terrible sight would steel his resolve, watching the Mander burning green, every bit as terrible as the flames from twenty one years prior. That night he made a simple vow, never again.
The League of the Cornucopia, he would name his little group, a gallery of lords and ladies whose acquaintances he’d made over the years. With these fellow gourmets he would share the culinary knowledge he’d gleaned from his journeys in the east and west. Most unusual for a lord of his rank, Dorian came to spend a great deal of time in his kitchens, testing out recipes himself. On occasion, the dishes he served to his guests for these small, intimate gatherings would be the work of his own hands. The membership did vary from time to time, both based on who could make it and who he sought to bring together. Rather than a fully closed circle, the League is more like a form of feasting, only it’s done for a much smaller crowd, without the public spectacle. Such occasions allowed for more refined foods which did not need to be served to hundreds and kept constantly warm over the course of hours like some common tavern stew. It also opened up an arena of more intimate diplomacy and negotiation for those who sought it, hosted on neutral ground by a lordly mediator, free from prying eyes.
Timeline:
25BC: Dorian is born, second in line to Longtable
24BC: His sister Lydia is born
9BC: House Merryweather hosts House Gardener for a tourney and feast. Dorian and his older brother Bennard serve the dish of honor to King Mern Gardener and his family. During the subsequent tourney, Mern knights both boys, despite their inexperience and lack of victory in the tourney
9BC-2BC: Dorian spends much time travelling the reach, attending events
1BC: Dorian and Bennard fight in the vanguard at the Field of Fire. Both are burned, Bennard far more severely than Dorian. Lord Merryweather is killed. Traumatized by the battle and his new maimed body, Bennard starts refusing food. Dorian desperately tries to re-create the dish they served King Mern eight years ago. The cook who made it has since gone senile, but eventually manages to help Dorian re-create it. He is given a place at court as apology for his mistreatment at Dorian's hands before this occurred.
1AC: Lord Bennard dies at the beginning of the year, leaving Dorian as lord of Longtable. His sister Lydia fulfills her betrothal to House Tarly, becoming lady of Horn Hill. At the prospect of marrying a Dornishwoman on the King's orders, Dorian decides to leave Westeros to put off his marriage. In Myr, he meets a woman calling herself Maryah, claiming to be a Tyroshi merchant. They fall in love and travel to Lys together. There Dorian promises to set aside his betrothal for her, whereupon she reveals herself as Joanna Dayne, his dornish betrothed.
1AC-4AC: Dorian and Joanna wed at Longtable, then depart on a new journey of the east. They reach as far as Qarth before turning back home. In 3AC, on the way back, their first child, Florys, is born while the couple are in Volantis, on the way home. They return via the newly built port of King's Landing.
4AC-8AC: Using knowledge from the east, Lord Dorian embarks on a project of rationalizing the agriculture of Longtable
5AC: Dorian and Joanna have their second child, a girl named Ellyn
8AC: Their third daughter, Desmera, is born
13AC: Dorian and Joanna spend a year travelling the northern free cities
14AC: Their fourth and final daughter, Gwin, is born
17AC: Dorian and Joanna undertake a journey to the Summer Islands with their children
23AC: The aftermath of the battle of Stonebridge brings back memories of the Field of Fire, as the Merryweathers watch burning slag run down the Mander
25AC: The Merryweathers travel to the celebration of the maturity of Aegon's sons
Family Tree:
Arthor Merryweather (father, d.1BC)
Cerelle Merryweather (pending family connection) (mother, d.20AC)
Bennard Merryweather (brother, d.1AC)
Lydia Merryweather (sister, b.24BC)
Glendon Merryweather (uncle, d.1BC)
Myrcella Pommingham (aunt, d.22AC)
Leo Merryweather (cousin, b.13AC)
Joanna Dayne (wife, b.26AC)
Florys Merryweather (daughter, b.3AC)
Ellyn Merryweather (daughter, b.5AC)
Desmera Merryweather (daughter, b.8AC)
Gwin Merryweather (daughter, b.13AC)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Auxiliary Character:
Name and House: Florys Merryweather
Age: 23
Cultural Group: Reachman
Appearance: [A short, muscular woman with wavy black hair, normally worn in a bun. She has high cheekbones and a proud demeanor. Her rigid strength stands in contrast to the more relaxed nature of the Merryweather court, one she finds overly lax and casual](0_0.png (896×1344) (discordapp.com))
Trait: Hale
Skills: Swords (e), Essosi Blademaster
Talents: Dancing, Fishing, Cooking
Negative Traits: N/A
Starting Title: Heir to Longtable
Starting Location: Opening Event
Timeline:
3AC: Florys is born in Volantis, while her parents are on their way home from Essos
10AC: Florys starts training under Saathos Trevelyan, her father's Master at Arms
13 AC: She joins her parents on a tour of Pentos, Braavos, Norvos and Qohor
17AC: She travels with her parents to the Summer Islands
19AC-23AC: As she comes of age, Florys becomes more critical of her father's desire for peace, viewing it as increasingly far-fetched amid the increasingly controversial regency and the impending succession dispute. She resolves to make the kinds of connections her father seems unwilling to, in case of war
25AC: She accompanies her family to the celebrations
NPCS:
Ser Leo Merryweather (Age: 37, Archetype: Magnate) Lord Merryweather's first cousin, he has become an indispensable agent in the daily running of Longtable. Despite his foppish demeanor and aparent laziness, he is highly capable and loyal in his task of increasing his family's fortune. He remains happily unwed
Saathos Tevelyan: (Age:48, Archetype: Master at Arms) The son of a Lysene father and a Myrish mother, Saathos initially sought a career in amongst Myr's military officers, however his family's relatively low status proved an impediment to further promotion, later compounded by a dispute with a superior. He met Lord Merryweather in 3AC and eventually travelled West to offer his services five years later, finding his career progress stonewalled in his home city. Well into middle age, he still looks firm and imposing as profesisonal a soldier ought to

I’ve lived in my house now for 3 weeks as a single first time home buyer and sometimes I feel happy about my decision and others times like now, I have buyers remorse. I just lost/quit my job a few days ago that I had only worked at for a month. I was working nights before getting the job and desperately needed a different job because I was only sleeping around 2-3 hours a day. It was like something just flipped in me and I could no longer keep any kind of schedule or routine.
The new job ended up being terrible for me. I had really high hopes for it and planned on working there for a long time. But I couldn’t predict the effect the disorganization would have on me. My coworkers would ignore me all day instead of showing me things. I just felt like I was dropped off on an island and expected to survive. Management was always hiding and unreachable. I felt so unsupported. I started having dizziness spells and calling in because I was just in straight up fight or flight thinking about going back into work.
Now I have a new job lined up that I start in 3 weeks and I just feel like I’ve undergone so many major life changes recently that I honestly don’t know where to go from here. The new job pays 54 an hour where my old one paid 23….it seems like an amazing opportunity for me but I’m scared. I had taken a big pay cut from 43 an hour working nights to 23 because that job seemed to offer “stability” and better hours. My mental health already wasn’t the greatest when I started this home buying process and I thought things would settle down once I’ve moved in but this anxiety comes and goes in waves and I just feel so alone.
I had this image in my head about how things would be and now I’m just scared and feel like I can’t trust myself to make any decisions. I just wanted to know if anyone else has felt like this.
I’ve been seeing a therapist for 3 months now and she really helps me to stay grounded but our next session isn’t until tomorrow. I was SO happy to get my offer approved for this house and that began 3 weeks of pure anxiety until closing. I’m already in this so it’s not like I can just jump ship. I’m really just letting all my doubts and anxieties take over right now.

I was wandering down and around near Nokron, when I looted a budding horn from one of the Ancestral Follower shaman. "Odd" I thought, as I distinctly remembered their relationship to the crucible. It's description reads:
This horn began to sprout on a beast that typically bears no horn. Perhaps it's a vestige of the primordial crucible.
It wasn't until I looked into it on the wiki that I realized they almost exclusively are dropped by the Followers, and in fact, one of the only guarunteed drop for them is in Siofra, on a dead wandering noble. To me, this seems to be huge in terms of understanding the relationship between the Ancestral Spirits, their followers, and the crucible, the latter which I thought was almost entirely seperate from the formers.
In addition to these budding horns, ancestral followers also wear horns, and antlers attop their head, which, on it's own wouldn't be enough to link them to the crucible, but the Fur rainment armor tells us:
The ancestral followers keep their distance from the Erdtree, awaiting new buds. They are certain to sprout from their very flesh, and indeed, their souls.
The tidbit about souls brings to mind a line of dialogue, when Morgott kills us in phase two:
May the curse seep to thy very soul.
To me, I believe he speaks of the omen curse, the same curse he bears in shame, and we're positively drenched in during the fight once he errupts. Could this be to imply he could incidentally bestow the omen curse upon us, similiarly to how the dung eater does to others?
The link between the crucible, and how it affects the soul seems to be of great significance. Those who are linked to the crucible are unable to return to the erdtree, and indeed, it seems via the Fur Rainment description that the ancestral followers loath the idea. Instead, they seem drawn to their own ideal after life, amongst nature, and the ancestral spirits. The Regal ancestor spirit rememberance reads:
Ancestral spirits exist as a phenomenon beyond the purview of the Erdtree. Life sprouts from death, as it does from birth. Such is the way of the living.
How does this "life sprout from death?" Well, In my opinion, the dead followers are essentially given to these spirits, and from them the spirit grows. These "sproutings", similarly to the budding horns upon the bodies of the followers it seems, are not native to them. The Ancestral Infant's head reads:
Skull of a very young ancestral spirit. Just think how many sproutings It might bear.
and from the ancestral spirit horn we read:
Item cut from the horns of the Regal Ancestor Spirit.
A number of new growths bud from the antler-like horns of the fallen king, each glowing with light.
Thus does new life grow from death, and from death, one obtains power.
So could it be, those of the crucible cannot return to the erdtree, as they're bound in some ways to these ancestral spirits? Are the ancestral spirits a lost vestiage of what the crucible may have looked like, or are these a race of beings who came after the rise of the ErdTree?
In my opinion, it is likely this was a practice amongst many in the lands between, before the establishment of the golden order, and it's erdtree. once the golden order became the predominant culture, those who could not be returned to the erdtree were reviled, and cursed. as wel know from the crucible talismans "it was considered a signifier of the divine in ancient times" to bear aspects of the crucible, just as the Ancestral followers seem to value crucible-esque growths upon their own body.
This notion, to me, rings similarly to how the Dark soul of man, within the dark souls series, was seen as this intrinsic evil, only for it to be discovered that it was gwyn's curse that caused the abyss to fester within man. Could the way Omen, and misbegotten are treated, and reviled by the golden order cause their disfunctional, and wretched forms we see today? Did those gifted with aspects of the crucible once have looked like the ancestral followers, who purposely hide away from the light and oppression of the ErdTree? I think it's certainly possible. -